SPARTA NEW JERSEY RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL
September 12-13 and 19-20, 2020

Comprehensive Merchant Guide (Updated for 2020)

Welcome Back!
Our third year was a tremendous success thanks to all the wonderful merchants, entertainers and volunteers who helped make it happen. We intend this year to be even better and will continue the duration of the faire at two weekends!  We consider the vendors to be our most important part of our faire, and we are eager to work with you to help increase success for all of us!  

Marketing
Each year we have been investing a great deal of our budget into advertising the festival. We are eager to build a large and solid foundation to grow on and will continue to invest just as heavily into our marketing every year.  Our patron attendance has been very steadily increasing each year, and we will continue to push hard on the advertising to get more and more people through the gate to purchase your wares!

Price to vend
Our 2020 vendor prices will be a low price of $175 for each weekend. We spend the majority of our vendor fees collected on advertising for the faire, to help ensure our best turnout.

Vendor Space / Accommodations
If you do not ask for a specific dimension for your vendor space, you will be assigned a space that is approximately 14x14. This will be an outdoor area that will be just off the walking path, which the flow of traffic will pass by.  If you believe you will need more space for your area, please reach out to us to discuss options. The faire will in all circumstances be closed prior to the sun setting. If you absolutely need electricity or Wi-Fi, please contact us to let us know so that we can try to position you accordingly.  Vendor location assignments will be done within three weeks of the faire and we will reach out to you with additional information.  Prior to the event we will check all the designated vendor areas and make sure that they are areas that do not become unbearable in the event of inclement weather. We will make every effort to accommodate your requests, where we can reasonably do so. If you wish to discuss special requests for your booth such as securing an area larger than 14x14, please contact us. For any and all vendor inquiries, you may e-mail SNJRFVendorCoord@gmail.com.

Set-up and Clean up
You will be allowed to come onto the site up to four days before the faire, in order to set up your booth. Your booth must be set up, and your car removed from the faire area no later than an hour prior to the faire opening. For clean up, you will be allowed to bring your vehicles onto camp after the close of faire. You will have up to three days after the end of faire on Sunday to completely remove your set up from the site.
          There will be faire staff on site every day of the week prior to faire from 10am to 6pm. If you are setting up the morning of the faire, we ask that you unload everything at your vendor space and then immediately park your vehicle in the vendor parking area before actually setting up your booth (exceptions to this can be made if you arrange ahead of time). In the event that you are setting up the morning of the faire, please allot yourself plenty of time to complete your set up prior to the gates opening at 10am.

Rain or Shine
While we will be hoping for beautiful and perfect weather, our event takes place as intended in every aspect regardless of how good or bad the weather actually is on the weekend.

Security
We will have security patrol the fairgrounds during the faire, and only light security at night. You must secure your merchandise at the end of every faire day. You may not leave your merchandise unsecured and unattended in your booth at night as we will not be able to adequately keep an eye on every tent at every moment. All merchandise must be secured in either locked, unmovable containers or secured in your vehicle during off hours.

Vendor Parking
There will be a designated vendor parking area that will be located inside the property, allowing us more parking for faire goers. If you believe that you will need access to your vehicle to leave the site during the faire, then please arrange with us to park in the normal parking area.  

Overnight Sleeping
If you wish to sleep overnight on the site you may do so. There will be a designated camping area, where you will be able to pitch a tent. There will be a couple of fire pits, and a bathhouse with restrooms and showers that will be close to the camping area for you to use if you wish.  If you are traveling from afar and wish to stay at the camp in-between the two weekends this option will be available at no extra cost, however you will need to notify the vendor coordinator of your desire to do so ahead of time.

Leaving equipment between weekends
In between the first weekend and the second you will be allowed the option to leave your set up in place. You MUST remove and secure your merchandise, but leaving your decorated tent and or furniture in place should be fine if you wish to do so.  

Atmosphere Expectations
Please make every effort to have your vendor space decorated to look somewhat rustic or medieval. If you need some help or assistance with ideas on how to accomplish this, please reach out to us and ask. We will make every effort to try to work with you. Going into our fourth year now, we need the cooperation of our vendors to help transport the patrons back to a fantasy world.

Sponsored Vendor
If you wish for your company to be an official sponsor of our faire for this year, the sponsorship fee for vendors will be an additional $100, which will cover both weekends of the faire. This year we have very clearly laid out the benefit of sponsorship and have listed it below:
1) We will place your logo and link more predominantly on our website.
2) We will promote your business through a post for our five thousand plus local followers on Facebook.
3) You will be allowed to place a stack of your advertising material or cards at our "Town Bulletin Board" during the faire.
4) You will be given the opportunity to be a part of an interactive activity in the faire designed to drive more traffic to your booth.
5) You will have priority on booth placement.
6) You may ask for extra assistance from faire staff (such as someone to watch your booth during bathroom or eat breaks).  

Participating Vendor - The Great Vendor Raffle!
We will be running a raffle intended to encourage faire goers to open their wallets and spend money at this faire. As a vendor at our faire you will be required to participate. You will be identified as a participating vendor and will be given a special hole punch. For every ten-dollar threshold spent at a participating vendor, the faire goer may have a hole punched on their raffle card. For every ten punches they acquire on a single card, they may enter that card for a chance to win a gift certificate for 25, 50 and 100 dollars that they may use only at participating vendors. These prizes are paid for by the faire itself and bears no extra financial cost to you. Not only does this encourage attendees to decide that this should be the faire they make purchases at, it also creates the possibility of up to three hundred dollars in additional sales that will be covered by the faire. If a winner decides to use their prize at your booth, then at the end of the faire weekend you can hand these certificates to us, and you will be immediately paid back that amount in cash.

We Keep the Money In-House - Ren Faire Vouchers
The Sparta NJ Ren Faire creates official vouchers in denominations of five and ten dollars. We reward patrons and volunteers with these vouchers throughout the weekend. As a vendor you will be expected to accept these vouchers as you would cash and hand them to us at the end of the faire for a full cash conversion. We have found that this practice allows us to keep the money in house so that it is spent at your both instead of being spent off site. This was met with huge success the last several years and we are excited to see its continued success be a benefit to you. You will be provided with a sample voucher so you know what to expect.

Liability and Insurance
The campground and the faire will not be liable for any accidents or incidents. Part of your application will be to sign a waiver of liability. It is always in your best interest to have vendor insurance. If you are new to vending and would like help with looking for vendor insurance, please ask us and we will be happy to help point you in the right direction to start looking.