Frustration at Caribbean and African World Festivals
Detroit needs to be more vendor friendly. I attended the Carribbean and African World festival over the past two weekends at Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit, and some of the vendors were not happy.
$750 for the Carribbean festival and $950 for the African World festival were the amounts vendors were charged to set up booths at Hart Plaza. Some said they did not even make more than $200 for the two festivities. They complained about the lack of promotion for the events which could have attracted more than the usual crowd.
I can feel the vendors. If I’m paying that much to set up a booth at the event, I would expect more from the organizers than just paying $750 or $950.
Detroit should look to New York for mentoring on a more friendly vendor atmosphere. Becoming a cultural hub is more than just talking. Make vendors want to attend your events next time…and offer incentives.
Banky
September 3rd, 2006 at 11:26 am
I would agree with those vendors and Banky. I have seen very little or no coverage at all from the Mainstream Media for the events this Labor Day weekend in Detroit, such as the Football Classic at Ford Field or the Jazz Festival at Hart Plaza. The only way I found out the Carribean Festival was at that time was a AD in the MI Citizen, Otherwise I would have missed it a lot of people did not know about it.