12 new booths add flavor to Brandon Expo
By:
Jamie Hult, Staff writer
Coffee News owner and editor Steve Herman entertained kids Saturday with a phone app called Bonk. Herman’s was one of 48 booths at the ninth annual Brandon Expo Nov. 11. Jamie Hult/BV Journal
The sun shone brightly on the Brandon expo Saturday, and attitudes were equally sunny.
“Best one ever,” said Steve Herman, owner and editor of Coffee News.
Herman collected a full jar of business cards from locals interested in advertising in the Brandon edition of his free publication and made a lot of kids laugh with silly funhouse photos of themselves he created with an app called Bonk.
“Our goal is to make the Expo worthwhile for members,” said BVACC president/CEO Kim Cerwick. “We want our members to get good, warm leads from this.”
She hopes the 12 non-members with booths found it worthwhile, too. For the first time in the Brandon Expo’s nine-year history, the Chamber opened up the Expo to all businesses and organizations, for a total of 48 vendors – higher than usual, Cerwick noted.
“The variety the non-members brought was good. More different things here will help the Expo,” she said.
Amy Hieb cruised in Saturday afternoon with her two children, students at Fred Assam Elementary.
“My husband is a hunter and he’s always gone this weekend, so this is something the three of us can do together,” Heib said. “We like to check out what’s going on in Brandon. There’s always a lot of free goodies, and the kids love the inflatables.”
Inflatables were adjacent to the expo in the Brandon Valley High School’s auxiliary gym, along with Kidpreneur Market – another first for the Brandon Expo.
Sixteen budding business owners filled their booths with crafts, wearables and edibles in the Brandon Valley High School auxiliary gym from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“Those kids were impressive, just with the ideas they had, and some weren’t even selling things today,” said Cerwick, pointing out the market’s pair of pet care services. “It’s a great event to pair with the expo. We’ll definitely do it again.”
The Chamber sends out a survey to vendors following the expo to gather feedback.
“We’re curious to see what folks think of the event. And from here I move on to Shop Small Saturday,” Cerwick said with a smile.
View the photo gallery at brandonvalleyjournal.com
