Become an Exhibitor « Celebrate Vermont Festival

Dear Vermont Business Owners and Entrepreneurs, Artists, Craftspeople, and Specialty Food Producers,

We invite you to join us for the first ever Celebrate Vermont Festival August 16-18, 2013 in Stowe, Vermont. The focus is to celebrate Vermont and its farms, foods, forests, its unique sense of place, and its creative entrepreneurship. Above all it is an optimistic statement about our exciting future in Vermont.

Presently we enjoy the support of several key sponsors including Vermont Tourism and Marketing, Vermont Life Magazine, Cabot, and the Stowe Area Association. Additionally many state agencies are supporting the event including Agriculture, Forests, Parks and Recreation, Vermont Fresh Network, Dig In VT, Council on Rural Development, and others to be announced shortly. We also enjoy the support of WCAX and Vermont Business Magazine.

At the core of all the demos, workshops, entertainment and food court, there will be a Vermont Marketplace Tent. Inside three tents there will be 75 artists and artisans, 25 specialty food exhibitors, and 50 booths from Vermont’s most creative companies. All exhibitors will be able to sell their products to the public. Based on experience, we anticipate at least 6,000 attendees during the event. All exhibitors will be Vermonters. It should prove to be a viable market or marketing showcase for your company. This component is open Friday through Sunday from 10 to 5 daily at the Stowe Events Field.

To apply as an exhibitor, download the Application PDF or apply online. There are even outdoor booths. We will require three digital photos of your work or products which you can email to info@celebratevermontfestival.com. See links for standards and payment information below. Call (802)425-3399 with any questions.

Join the party and sign up.

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This Festival will be a three-day celebration of Vermont Food, Farm, and Forest, the Vermont brand, and Vermont’s community values and traditions. It will take place in and around the village of Stowe on August 16-18, 2013. Attendance in the first year was 8-10,000. The crowd will be a mix of tourists and Vermonters. Since this Festival is celebrating all Vermont, the goal is to attract a statewide audience plus visitors from elsewhere.

Stowe Events Field, the core site, will host multiple festive tents including a massive Marketplace tent housing specialty food booths, juried craft booths, juried artist booths, and booths with products exemplifying Vermont excellence.

Educational events will include tastings and pairings of Vermont artisan cheeses, beers, and spirits and will be sponsored by the VT Culinary Tourism Council’s Dig In VT program. Under the sponsorship of the Vermont Fresh Network, visitors can pause and enjoy a spectacular culinary array of Vermont food comprised of the finest ingredients from our farms and specialty food producers. A Dining Tent will allow patrons to sit down and relax while dining.

The educational components of the festival will take place in the Chautauqua Tents where acknowledged experts in various aspects of animal husbandry, home gardening, small scale farming, domestic energy conservation and generation, bee-keeping, composting, and woodlot and forest stewardship will hold forth during the festival in interactive sessions.

In the Live Kitchen tent, visitors will be able to watch and talk with chefs as they prepare delicious dishes from summer’s cornucopia. Chefs from Vermont’s newest communities will also share their food traditions.

Another tent will shelter domestic and working animals with an open petting zoo, daily working animal demonstrations, miniature horse rides and an opportunity for visitors to milk cows, sheep, and goats.

The Buy Local area adjacent to the exit gate will allow departing visitors to bring Vermont’s bounty home. Farmers and their offerings will rotate during the four days to allow for maximum diversity.

The Entertainment State will offer four afternoons of continuous music and performance from 11-4pm. Shows will include music, magic, and Moth-style storytelling. Sunday will feature an afternoon of indigenous music and performance from Vermont’s international community. On Saturday afternoon, the Festival will host an actual wedding.

The Forest segment of the festival will occur nearby at the Trapp Family Lodge. Events and sessions will include sustainable logging, hewing competitions, safe chainsaw felling, and woodcarving.

After 6pm daily, area restaurants will present special menu fare showcasing the wealth of Vermont produce from grain-fed beef to free-range poultry to aquaculture. Participating restaurants will serve Vermont food at favorable prices. After dinner, there will be additional performances at locations about town, including the new Theatre at Spruce Peak at Stowe Mountain Resort.

Organization and management will be provided by Charley Dooley and Tim Cianciola of Craftproducers, and Bill Schubart, recently retired CEO of Resolution and presently a VPR commentator and business consultant. Their corporation, VTFFF, is a benevolent corporation that is not beholden to officers or stockholders but to the public good.