Thanks everyone who came to or vended at the Holiday Trade Fair last weekend.

The High Noon, as always, was a great space with more people hanging out and socializing than in past years. They also became the first bar in Madison to accept Madison Hours. They were accepting 1/4 Hour towards any Ale Asylum beer.

Most vendors reported decent to good sales. We tried a new process for "renting" vendor space. Instead of set fees per space, we asked everyone to pay at the end based on what it was worth to them. It averaged out to just about exactly what it had been in past years but without as much effort on our end. It also allowed a couple vendors who had slow sales to pay less than they would've had to otherwise. A couple of vendors were surprised at their sales and paid far more than we've ever charged.

The big surprise was the number of new member sign-ups. Seventeen! This is a record for us for one event. Many of the new members had heard Rob and Erin on The Mic earlier in the week. We had new member kits pre-assembled and found it both fun and exhilarating to have so much interest in local currency.

I'd like to hear from members (new and old) about how they felt about the fair and ideas to improve it. I'm also curious about whether or not there is interest in putting together a spring trade fair - perhaps centered around gardening / farming / food security.. Seeds, seedlings, CSA subsriptions, etc, etc.. Who's in?