Cranberry Fest (2015)
PO Box 686
Bordentown, NJ 08505
First Weekend of October (Saturday & Sunday)
11am-5:00pm
$150
$100 extra if you need overnight security
12’ x 10’ space
This event was held along four blocks of Farnsworth Avenue in Bordentown, NJ. The street was closed to vehicular traffic. Juried artist/crafters and antique dealers shared both sides of the street. Since the Downtown Business Association promoted this event, some brick and mortar storeowners displayed their merchandise as well. Bordentown's restaurants offered a wide assortment of food - from snacks to full meals. Non-profit community groups accounted for a few booths. Thankfully, there were no franchises, business, contractors or food trucks represented.
A side street was dedicated to children’s activities such as face painting, sand art, rock wall climbing and more. There was live music at one end of Farnsworth Avenue. Earlier in the day, we thought we heard a DJ playing music.
Exhibitors could purchase their morning beverage and breakfast at one of several different places.
This weekend has a history of being plaque with rain and this year was no different. On Friday at 2:00pm, all were notified via the official web page that the show would be cancelled for Saturday but was still on for Sunday. That meant that the Saturday Quentin Hausser Memorial Vintage Car Show Isaac Dripps was cancelled; however, the Sunday classic motorcycle show was a go.
When the weather is good and the Cranberry Fest is held on both Saturday and Sunday, there is an option for exhibitors to leave their booths set up overnight – at a cost of $100. Since it takes us 2+ hours to set up and 90 minutes to take down, we reluctantly opted to pay the cost. Many other multiday shows provide overnight security at no cost to the exhibitors. It is the cost of the overnight security that is making us think twice about returning to this show. We did OK for a one-day show, but we question if the extra day would justify the overnight security charge. Would we have double the sales? If not, the security charge would not be defensible.
We arrive at 8:15am and there were already many vendors set up. I suspect they may have exhibited at this show before and knew of the challenges involved with loading/unloading. If you stopped your car to unload/load your things, no traffic could pass you. Since we were near the end of the block, we were able to pull around the corner to load/unload. Luckily, no one was parked in the street on our corner and it worked for us. Otherwise, we would have had plenty of angry vendors behind us waiting 15 minutes for us to unload/load.
According to the map provided, we lucked out and received a corner spot; however, when we arrived we learned that two storeowners were squeezed in and not marked on the map. It was disappointing but we made it work.
The weather on Sunday was chilly and overcast and may have been a factor in why past exhibitors indicated sales were down from last year on Sunday. Fortunately, it did not rain at all. We could tell by the marked spaces that several vendors did not show up.
Free street parking and a church parking lot were available for visitors and exhibitors. Shuttles were available. The firehouse allowed parking in their lot for $5.
There were flush toilets and port-a-potties available for both vendors and the public.
The FYI sheet that exhibitors were sent indicated judging begins at 12:00pm on Saturday; however, we did not see any judges or awards. Other than a man directing us to our spot, we did not see any festival representatives throughout the show. There was a much appreciated police presence throughout the show. Problem and inclement weather phone numbers were provided.
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