Simsbury Arts & Crafts Festival

Brief

The objective was to increase revenues by focusing on two areas: first, to bring the system up to date with technology to make it more accessible to a wider variety of revenue streams; second, to increase foot traffic by increasing marketing platforms, making connections with community partners and increasing offerings to appeal to all age groups.

Challenge

Transitioning from Simsbury Woman’s Club (SWC) to Simsbury Junior Woman’s Club (SJWC) in 2019 because the SWC members were aging out.
Paper applications and paper advertisement were getting cumbersome and outdated.
Change in festival criteria (pre-accepted vs. juried).
All revenue came from vendors and no other sources.
There were only vendors and no additional activities (e.g., children’s activities, music, dog adoption services, etc.).
Vendors weren’t promoted ahead of time because there was a lack of technology.
There were limited category types.

Solution

Bring the festival up to date with technology (put the application and payment online, post on social media platforms).
Bring in revenue from other sources aside from vendors (non-profits, corporations, food trucks, entertainment).
Promote vendors via website, festival brochure, etc.
Expanded the type of vendors that were juried (unique items, food, book signing, etc.)

Outcome

There were multiple revenue sources added.
There was an increase of outreach promoting the event and vendors.
There was a significant increase in foot traffic.
There were strong community partnership created (library, dog adoption).
The festival interests for the attendees were broadened.