It’s the time of year for reflection and we’ve certainly had a busy year to look back on.
We can’t believe 2017 is almost at an end. It’s flown by and we’ve barely had chance to catch our breath so we can’t wait for a small break over Christmas before we return again in 2018!
The year started for us with our fist ever wedding fair in March at Brighton Racecourse. We decided to go big and almost 100 stall holders joined us for Happily Ever After Creative Wedding Fair. There was also craft workshops through the day and live performances too. It was great to embark on a new adventure, meet new talented stall holders and a new set of visitors. We got great feedback from stall holders and visitors alike with many commenting on how unique and refreshing the stalls were and how lovely and friendly the people behind the brands were too.
A few weeks later we returned with our Spring fairs ahead of Easter. First up we were back at Patcham Methodist for all the Spring time craft fun. There were almost 40 stalls, craft workshops, face painting, yummy tearoom and Patcham Youth Band too.
A week later we headed to Worthing Charmandean and held our first Easter fair in aid of St Barnabas and brought The Fairy Tale Fair brand to Worthing. The day was filled with 70 stall holders, live performers and special guests including Arundel Town Crier, Worthing Mayor, The Sussex Ghostbusters, Magic Martin and more. The fair was run in conjunction with the Northbrook Friends of St Barnabas fundraising group and we raised £2,594.32 in total for St Barnabas.
In May we were VERY excited to debut at Brighton Fringe. It was so exciting to be part of such a big and prestigious festival. Our fair was held on Saturday 20th May at Brighton Open Market in central Brighton and was listed on the Brighton Fringe website and 100,000 copies of their printed brochure. We had 10,000 flyers delivered for the fair which featured one of our stall holders, Vicky Scott Illustration, Brighton in Bloom Illustration.
The day was filled with over 50 talented stall holders and live performances as well as special guests including a princess or two!
After a busy summer preparing for a packed season of fairs ahead we returned in Autumn with our 2nd wedding fair.
After the success of our debut wedding fair earlier in the year Happily Ever After Creative Wedding Fair was back! This time we headed out to Shoreham, West Sussex and welcomed over 40 talented wedding creatives on Saturday 28th October. We welcomed some returning wedding exhibitors and met a whole host of new suppliers too – their talented and displays always amaze us.
The day featured live singers, free craft workshops, vintage cars and more. We had 50 lucky VIP ticket holders who walked away very happy clutching their goody bags full of treats and discounts.
Once our wedding fair was over it was full steam ahead on all things Christmas!
First up we returned to our well loved home of Patcham Methodist on Saturday 18th November. Again almost 40 stall holders joined us, plus festive craft workshops, a Christmas tearoom, face painting and Patcham Youth Silver Band.
The following week we returned to Brighton Open Market for all the festive fun. Over 50 stall holders joined us – regulars and new, as well as lots of entertainment including live singers, children’s choir, Olaf and princesses. Thousands of you visited on the day and left happy with lots of handmade gifts! We also welcomed LilyPup Snowdog which raised £156 for The Martlets.
Then the Sunday after we held our biggest craft fair of the year with over 70 stall holders at Worthing Charmandean for our So This is Christmas fair in aid of St Barnabas. A host of guests and entertainment joined us for the day. The event was opened by Worthing Town Crier, Worthing Mayor, The Sussex Ghostbusters, Santa and Miss UK. We also welcomed Tinkerbell and Elsa and performances from West Sussex Rock Choir, Glendale Theatre Arts and Patcham Youth Silver Band. We’re very pleased to announce we raised £3,027.50 for St Barnabas which they are very pleased with!
This also takes our total raised for St Barnabas House through our fairs in conjunction with the Northbrook Friends of St Barnabas Fundraising, since Dec 2015 to over £10,000. We are so very proud of this achievement and the difference this money will, and already is having, for the hospice!
Just when we thought we’d finished for the year we went and added one final fair on Sunday 10th December at Brighton Open Market. Due to the success of our November fair the market invited us back to do it all over again! The fair was ‘Shop Local Christmas Craft Market’ and we welcomed 45 local stall holders, plus live music from Hannah Renton and Olaf and Santa dropped in too! A big thanks to all our stall holders and lovely visitors who braved the cold, rain and wind that day to support us and our makers!
And that marks the end of our 2017 journey. We hoped you’ve enjoyed our fairs and hopefully picked up some wonderful handmade gifts and met some of our talented makers who are all really friendly and lovely. Thanks for all your fab feedback and reviews so far. If you’d like to read our reviews or leave your own you can do so on Facebook here.
We can’t wait to return from Spring 2018 with our Easter fairs and already have some new and exciting projects lined up too! You can see dates announced so far here – pop them in your 2018 diary now! If you are a stall holder looking to take part in our 2018 fairs please visit our take part page to see details of when applications open.
From all at The Fairy Tale Fair we wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! If you are lucky enough get any gifts from our fairs we’d love to see – get in touch on social media via Twitter, Facebook or Instagram!
