For the last eight years, the Annual Peddler’s Faire at the Family Life Center Wofford Heights has been spotlighting the wealth of local talent and craftsmen in the Kern Valley. It’s also an opportunity for social and community groups to raise money and spread awareness of health, community, education, and environmental issues which affect our daily lives.
Organized and run by the Kern Valley Hospital Foundation, this past weekend’s Faire featured over 50 participating vendors from diverse and varied backgrounds and interests. 'You can get information, services and goods for much less than you would buy retail,' observes Jeannette Rodgers, marketing director of Kern Valley Heath Care District. 'It creates a partnership between businesses and an opportunity for socialization and networking.'
 One of the many vendors at this year’s Peddler’s Faire held in the Family Life Center Gymnasium, this past weekend. |
The Christian Fellowship hall was filled to bursting, vendor booths lining the room from one end to the other, displaying a wide array of crafts, curios, information, and civic activism. Potential customers ambled from one to the other, stopping here and there to examine artwork, clothing, and food, or to donate in support of one of the many charities featured. Many vendors were there to raise funds for social, environmental, and educational causes, including the Kernville Chamber of Commerce, the Alzheimer’s Disease Association, Kern Village Assisted Living, the Kernville Hatchery, Little League, the Animal Shelter, and Woodrow Wallace School’s Care Packages for soldiers in Iraq. Volunteers from Owen Boys School provided kitchen and food services.
Other vendors included Scrollshaw Portraits by Gordon Delano, a longtime supporter of the hospital, Steph’s Remix Fashions, Fay Canyon Cabochons, Lore’s Loft, and the Bodfish Market and Boutique, which sponsored a full-on Fashion Show on Saturday.
The Family Life Center donated the gymnasium, and the spaces were leased out to each vendor for a small donation, enabling the Foundation to offer an opportunity for businesses and organizations of all sizes to reach an audience market and make connections that they might not have on a regular basis. Rodgers describes it as a win-win-win situation; everyone benefits from the event. 'It creates partnerships between businesses and people,' she says.
Dad’s Jerky, a primarily online retail vendor of some truly delicious treats, was offering samples of their products, including meat, nuts, and dried fruits. Melissa Whittier, an employee, was amazed and pleased to see so many people out in support of the event.
'It’s a big community event,' she says, adding that this was her first time at the Faire. 'I really liked seeing all the volunteers helping the community, and all the organizations working for so many charities.'
It was beneficial for Dad’s Jerky as well. 'It’s a way of getting our name out there, and to be part of the community,' she says. Since their business is run almost exclusively on the internet, the Faire was a way to not only shop their product, but also to mingle and network with other business leader in the community.
That, says Rodgers, is a huge boon for all the participating vendors and organizations.
'You have a built-in crowd of people coming,' she explains, 'You could never do all that advertising yourself.'
One example of that was Steph Burns, who owns and operates Steph’s Remix Fashions out of Heroz Thrift Shop in Lake Isabella. She creates and sells outfits of her own design’Äîmost of which can be worn in as many as 100 different ways, simply by readjusting the folds of the material and the method of tying the straps. Her market is extremely specialized, and she only started her business five months ago, so the Faire was an ideal way of launching her product to a large audience.
'My mother brought the original dress from Florida,' she explains. Seeing the potential in expanding on that design, she started experimenting, and eventually created an entire
line of dresses, pants, and blouses, stating modestly, 'I just altered the designs a little,' to produce extremely changeable pieces that can be worn in all sizes.
With the healthy level of interest in her work, she demonstrated’Äîto awe and delighted exclamations’Äîthe versatility of one dress. In seconds, as people watched, she showed how it could be worn in a mind-boggling array of styles.
Barbara Campbell, Secretary of the Kern Valley Hospital Association, was pleased and gratified at the level of support she saw from the community. 'We really had quite a full house’Äîand about ten new vendors. We were really enthusiastic about this year’s event'
'It was an overwhelmingly successful Peddler’s Faire,' agrees Rodgers, adding that, 'Almost every vendor I talked to said they had done as well or better than they had last year. So we were thrilled.'
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