ConVal’s craft and vendor fair is back for its second year on May 7, in support of the Class of 2024, and space is available for vendors who wish to participate.
Applied Technology Center Director Jen Kiley, who is an organizer of the fair, said that last year’s event started as a community yard sale and “morphed.”
“People were clearing out things during COVID times, and we wanted to be able to give them a place to market their items where hopefully it would get more visitors,” she said. Then as the event developed, more vendors signed up to attend, and it became what it is this year.
Vendors must pay to register their place, and those proceeds will go toward providing ConVal’s Class of 2024 with funds for their future class activities.
“Our goal is to make sure that senior events are free for everybody,” Kiley said. “Our class officers are key to the planning of it, and all of the funds that we earn go to the class.”
Similar funds have been used in the past for items like caps and gowns, class trips and to cover the price of prom tickets.
“Hopefully, by the time our class is ready to graduate, we’ll be able to go on class trips like normal,” Kiley said. “The more money we raise, the more we can help the students, and that’s really the goal. Every dollar goes back to the school.”
Kiley said she also hopes events like this one will help bring the class together, since their time as a group has been much disrupted by the pandemic.
“We want to give them an opportunity to really get to know their peers, and feel like they’ve got people, a group,” she said.
At the vendor fair, those who sign up for a table can choose between a 6- by 10-foot space for $30 or a 10- by 12-foot space for $50. Kiley said she and music and band teacher Jim Wickham, who is a co-organizer, have experience organizing these events from being advisers for the Class of 2020, and that they have seen success with this format in the past and now.
“We really nailed down a good format for offering that sort of event and we’ve been able to finesse it over the last year,” Kiley said.
Along with vendors, the fair will include a food court, run by different co-curriculars and sports to raise funds. A silent auction will also be held at the event, with many items donated already by vendors.
So far, Kiley said that they have 46 vendors signed up, with room for a few more. Vendors include Pampered Chef, a couple of essential oils companies and individual community members selling crafts and other handmade or locally made items.
The fair will be held on May 7 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. To sign up as a vendor, or to learn more, reach out to Wickham at jwickham@conval.edu.