​As our vending calendar continues to fill up for the year, today (May 28, 2017) we participated in our first outdoor event of 2017. It was a community event held at Smith Pioneer Park in Lower Nicola, just over 70-minutes from home. The park is actually just down the street from the two indoor events we’ve been at in the same community.
 
We were told that a pancake breakfast was held from 9:00 AM to about 12 Noon and that vendors were welcome to fill the park during that time. That was about all we knew about this event so we prepared accordingly. It had been since September when George had to pack the car with our tables, canopy and cooler so it took him a couple tries first thing in the morning to get it right. I know he’ll have his system in place before long!
 
After picking up coffees and a bag of ice cubes, we were on our way. We pulled into Merritt at just under an hour and after George misunderstood my directions (I was driving, he was navigating) we were at the park before 8:00 AM. Another Princeton vendor was with us, travelling in a separate vehicle so we both set up next to each other. George got the canopy up quickly and helped others where he could.
 
Our booth was completely set up and ready to go long before the 9:00 AM start and the park slowly filled up with a few more vendors, about a dozen classic cars in a car show in front of us, and people milling about waiting for the pancake breakfast. There were lawnmower races at another part of the park and not a cloud in the sky. It was a beautiful day.
 
We introduced two new products at this event. One was a recipe I found intriguing and had to try to see for myself if it could be true. It’s called Carrot Cake Jam and it tastes exactly like carrot cake, minus the cream cheese. I put effort into the presentation with making sure the shredded pieces of carrot are suspended in the jar. I call that part ‘jar art’ and was very happy with the look I got from these.
 
Our second new item is All-Vegetable Antipasto. We have been to several venues where antipasto is popular. We have also been asked for it. However, the canning method for fish is something I want to avoid (pressure canning) so we have never explored it any further. Then about a month ago a local customer asked if I could make her some antipasto.
 
I dug into the recipe books and found a vegetable variety. All you need to do is add your own fish and whatever else before serving. This sounded interesting to me so I made a batch to see what it was like. George and I thought that the vegetable antipasto was pretty tasty on its own and it became a new product line. Both items sold well at Smith Pioneer Park today.
 
By the time the pancake breakfast had ended, a couple of vendors started packing up. Organizers came around shortly after that saying we could pack up if we wanted to so we started boxing up product. As we were doing this, a few more people entered the park and checked out the remaining vendors. We still had our samples out and George was just starting to load the car so we were still ‘in business’ at that point. We even picked up a couple of late sales as a result.
 
Overall, sales were a little slower than we expected, but it was also only just about 3-hours of vending. The numbers were encouraging just the same and we are now preparing for another new event on our calendar – Princeton Rodeo. We are trying to fit in some new venues before we start our weekly regular vending dates in Okanagan Falls in mid-June.

​Our first vending event in May was an interesting one. We have never been in the Elk’s Hall in Oliver before, but had an idea where it was as we have been in and through the community often. This was our second vending event in this town located in the Southern Okanagan and we were not sure what to expect. We arrived about 45-minutes before the 10:00 AM start and were quickly shown our table.
 
We were at the end of a row near the front entrance that both George and I liked immediately. He started unloading the car and joined two other vendors we knew from local events who were doing the same thing. We were completely set up and ready with about 10-minutes to spare. A couple of people had already made the rounds and we made a quick sale within minutes.
 
The hall was quite large and held about 20 vendors. We all had ample space and the rows between tables were wide enough to accommodate all. There was also a very interesting mixture of vendors. As is normally the case for George and I, we get ‘chatty’ with the vendors nearby. It wasn’t long before we started sharing information on other upcoming vending events.
 
I think this is one of the parts I really enjoy about vending out of town. We get to meet more like-minded people who are trying to make a few bucks off of their talent, but in a casual and relaxed way. We visited with several of the vendors and before I knew it, it was almost lunchtime. The Elk’s had a kitchen and we enjoyed something from the in-house menu.
 
As for sales…well, it was pretty slow. However, I was not disappointed. There were a lot of other activities taking place today all over Oliver. This “Spring Extravaganza” market had extensive advertising in print, radio, online and in posters. It was just one of those things that happens. Not every day is a good day for vending. George and I know this only too well.
 
But, we did have fun. I got to share samples of my products with a new demographic and passed out a lot of business cards. We made some new vending friends and did some networking. We encouraged a couple of vendors to join us at some of the events we have on our calendar and they did the same to us. We even sold a few items.
 
I guess that’s why we enjoy vending JamBusters! so much on the road – it’s a conversation starter and today we had a lot of conversations. I also may have found another source for produce to use in my recipes. When you look at the pluses, the slow traffic and low sales figures don’t really mean all that much. We had a good time, regardless.