Recently we had several challenges at the Fall Manchester
show due to weather and the condition of the new field at Riley Rink. We have
spent the last few weeks researching alternatives for our two Manchester
shows. Now, after much due diligence, we are happy to be able to present our
plan to you.
The Southern Vermont Art & Craft Festival (Aug 2- 4,
2013) will move to Bennington, VT. We actually considered moving the show
there in 2012 but opted for continuity instead. But let’s face it, Manchester
is not the summer destination it used to be. There are over 50 empty stores,
the Horse Show hurts, the town lacks energy. The days of a Town the size of
Manchester supporting two shows may be over.
Bennington is only about 20 miles south of Manchester and is
actually closer to the areas where the customers live. In fact the
advertising campaign will be the same as if we were in Manchester: it’s the
same market, except closer. Your mailing lists will still work. Our list of
15,000 names for this show will remain effective. The new venue, Camelot
Village, is on a major road (RT 9), and it is proven as an events field. It
routinely gets 14,000 people over two days for the Garlic Festival. The
Town is excited to have us and will work with us to make the show successful.
They will allow signage and a banner.
We are confident this is good move and urge you to apply
with to this show. Much more to come on this.
The Manchester Fall Art & Craft Festival (October 4 –
6) will be scheduled to stay at Riley Rink. There is already work going on
at the field and more is scheduled for the spring. However, if, after
inspecting the field in the spring, we are not 100% confident that it is
viable, we have secured a backup site. The Town of Manchester has stepped up
and offered us the use its Recreation Field on RT 30 for the show. It is easy
to find, big and flat. We visited the field the day after Sandy and it was firm
and dry. This is where the Southern Vermont Art and Craft Festival was born and
ran for five years before going to Hildene. So the Manchester Fall Stowe
will stay in Manchester on a very busy weekend.
We appreciate the support of the Town and Riley Rink.
The Rink has gone out its way to create a viable field for you and us. We
appreciate the work they have done and know that the morally right thing to do
is support them in return.
For the record, we looked at several places for a backup
site. Hildene would not allow us back. We looked at Dorr Field again and
determined again it is not adequate for our event. It is big and drains well
but it is not level. We also looked at The Southern Vermont Art Center and some
other fields that Riley Rink owns. None were adequate.
By staying in Manchester the weekend before Columbus Day
Weekend, we will have the two busiest foliage weekends in Vermont, two weekends
, two great proven locations. You can now apply to all these established shows
with complete confidence that we have appealing locations that will
continue to attract large crowds.
If you have any other questions, please let us know.
Also we will be posting more information on our website as it becomes
available. The application will be updated in the next couple days
with this new info.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to
working hard for you in 2013.
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