Every month?
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 07:50PM 
With ten days to go before Tarboro's 2nd Saturday for June, I'm feeling that little pinch of anxiety that occurs when one in charge of planning is not quite certain HOW everything will fall into place in such a short period of time.
The orderly, organized, stress-producing side of my personality is very uncomfortable with "not knowing" exactly where all the pieces are and how they fit together, while the other, more peaceful, "trust the Universe" side is content to work on what can be worked on and just allow everything to come together as it will. Luckily side two takes charge most of the time.
We may only have 10 days before the event, but, look at it this way, we started out with only 30 days to begin with, so we still have 1/3 of our organizing time left and we've already accomplished a lot.
The first one was not so easy, we were truly starting from scratch. The second event was a little easier, but then we couldn't have live music so a whole dimension of planning was omitted. This time, we've added more space to fill, more time to fill and live music to contend with, so the dynamics have changed quite a bit. It will be interesting to see what works and what doesn't work.
I'm learning to plan ahead a little bit, so that we can get a jump on the future months' events. Even just a vaque idea can get wheels turning and brains storming. I have rough plans to take us right through December, but I really need to learn either 1) how to get more people actually involved in the creation of the events or 2) how to raise more money so we can hire people to do some of the work. I can see why and how volunteers get burned out.
How many of you readers have attended street fairs or festivals in other towns? I'd be willing to guess that most of you have. Now, how many of you have ever given any thought as to who created the street fair or festival and what was required to make it happen? I have to say, until VERY recently, I never gave it much thought either. 
Now I know that there are many pieces that all have to fit together. We need entertainment. We need the downtown businesses to participate and to draw attention to the sidewalk space up and down the blocks to keep the crowd flowing from one area to the next. We need to schedule a variety of well-placed food vendors to satisfy the appetites of everyone young and old. We need to promote the event, and advertise. We need to design promotional materials. We need to ask for and collect donations to pay for the promotional costs. We need it to be festive. We need it to be fun. We need artists and craftspersons; things to look at and things to do. Things for grown-ups and things for kids. We need all the little pieces to fall together nicely. For Tarboro's 2nd Saturdays, we not only need it to happen within the next 10 days and we need it to happen EVERY month.
Reader Comments (5)
What about having all the businesses, vendors, kiosks, etc. have a jar to collect donations for the Grassroots of Tarboro? With your wholesale business, maybe you can get us a good deal?
A good deal on donation jars?
Any kind of jar or container with a clear and understandable sign would probably do the trick.
For example: I have a collection jar in The Unusual Shoppe for funds to help the local animal shelter. It's just a big jar with a sign explaining what we are collecting for. Anyone who wishes to collect donations for the Grassroots' projects is more than welcome to just do it.
I think in the very near future, we'll be able to start charging vendors a small fee to participate. I've held off with that in an attempt to attract vendors to this new venue. Once we can use the history of a few past events we can show vendors the potential profit in participating.
Always trust the Universe, for it is the impetus which brings the pieces together. It's going to be great, thanks for letting me be a part of the event!
Beth
Just had an idea for promoting - if it's permissible, how about making a few 12" by 12" signs on stakes (similar to the political campaign signs) and posting them strategically on Hwy 64 and roads leading into town on the day of the event? I've seen a lot of bead show organizers do this and apparently it's effective or they wouldn't go to the trouble.
The signs wouldn't have to be professionally made. Computer printouts glued to cardstock and stapled to garden stakes should work just fine for the first attempt.
Any thoughts?
Hey Beth,
Budget and "man" power seem to be the only limiting factors. We've got one week before this month's event and I am up to my neck in last minute details. Newspaper ads and "articles" will go out next week. A couple of banners are being made. We're in events calendars all over. We'll get better at this as each month goes by.
If you or anyone else wants to slam together some signs to post on the roads. I'll help in whatever way I can.
I think a basic sign with the T2S logo and the words STREET FAIR - SATURDAY - DOWNTOWN TARBORO might be all that is needed.
We have plans for banners that run under the highway billboards, but each one costs $125 to $150 so we're raising money for that.