News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Shoppers look over the wares at the Sisters Antique Faire.
Antique lovers strolled among 134 vendors' stalls at the Sisters Village Green last weekend during the Sisters Antique Faire sponsored by the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce.
Vendors offered everything from furniture and dishware to firearms and saddles, from books to wooden duck decoys.
While the weather was picture perfect and the wares were an antique-hound's delight, not everyone was in a sunny mood.
Some vendors were disappointed with the turnout and sales at the event -- and they blamed the organizers.
Janene Molebosh from Livingston, Montana, said her sales were down 65 percent from the level of the past two years' shows, which she said were "awesome."
Molebosh said she thought the advertising was inadequate. Nicholynn Slavador, who came from Brownsville, Oregon, for the first time this year, was upset because there was no signage to indicate that there was a show at the Village Green.
She said that she had been encouraged to come to the Sisters Antique Faire by other vendors and was disappointed. She noted that vendors have expenses such as motel rooms and gas to get to shows and if promoters don't come through the vendors take the hit.
Chamber events coordinator Annette Hayden acknowledged that she had received many complaints, starting when vendors arrived Friday, August 16, and found the area still unmapped.
Casey Flynn provided music.
Hayden noted that the chamber scheduled two major events back-to-back -- the fund-raising auction and the antique faire -- and it was difficult to get all the work done for both.
Hayden said it is not true that the event was under-advertised. She cited new radio ads on five stations in the Willamette valley and new television advertising on Channel 4 in the valley.
According to Hayden, the advertising certainly worked to attract vendors.
"The advertising I did brought in vendors to the point where I had to turn people away," she said.
She acknowledged that a banner advertising the event was left at the sign-maker's in Bend because she didn't have time to pick it up. And sandwich boards pointing to an event in the park were left in a locked cabinet.
"I should have had the banner up," she said. "Would it have made a difference for this show? I don't think so."
Not all the vendors thought the fair was a bust. One vendor visiting a local garage sale reported brisk business. Others thought the crowd was about normal in size, if a little light in spending.
It has been a tough summer for retailers and craft and antique show vendors alike in Sisters.
The Cache Mountain fire caused a week-long retail slump in Sisters and probably contributed to the low attendance at a Village Green craft show at the beginning of August.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
Reader Comments(0)