For the second time during the coronavirus pandemic, the Christian County Chamber of Commerce will host an outdoor vendor market in its parking lot.
Many community events that normally give small business owners an opportunity to showcase their goods have been canceled since March, so the chamber wanted to help fill that gap, said Kirstie Darnall, vice president for events and marketing.
“One way we found we could do that was to use our parking lot,” she said.
The chamber’s Spring Vendor Fair will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 13. There was a Christmas-themed fair in November, when approximately 20 vendors participated. They ranged from speciality shops, local distributors of national products, craft merchants and food trucks.
Darnall said there are two key advantages to the parking lot market — some customers are more comfortable browsing outside during the pandemic and the chamber’s location at 2800 Fort Campbell Blvd. is highly visible.
Dustin Gilbert, a Hopkinsville real estate agent who also runs Home Sweet Hoptown, a line of community-branded goods, participated in the November market and was the first to sign up for the spring event.
“Everyone at the last one was masked up” and had plenty of hand sanitizer, said Gilbert. Being outside in an open space gave shoppers room to stay socially distant, he said.
Gilbert launched his company a couple of months before COVID-19 began spreading in Kentucky. Although he couldn’t have predicted it, the virus pushed customers in the direction of his business model with online shopping and curbside deliveries. The chamber’s parking lot market is another way for him to grow his business.
There’s no charge for vendors who are chamber members. Nonmembers pay $25 for a spot, which is two parking spaces.
Business owners, including those with food trucks, may register online until March 10. Additional details are available on the registration page or by emailing Darnall.
This story has been updated to correct the date of the Spring Vendor Fair.
(Jennifer P. Brown is the editor and founder of Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
