Local businesses, non-profit organizations, and student groups will line both sides of 13th Avenue for the ASUO Fall Street Faire starting today.
Street Faires are the only fundraising events organized by the ASUO. The rest of their operating budget comes from incidental fees students pay each term. The money raised at the Faire is used to pay for the finance retreat student senators and the ASUO Executive take each year. Some of the money is also used to co-sponsor events with student groups.
“It’s pretty much the ASUO’s only fundraiser for the year so it’s really important to us,” ASUO marketing director Ella Barrett said.
Barrett said the last Street Faire raised about $7,000 after expenses.
“There’s a lot – a lot, a lot – of production costs going into this fair so we always have to face that, but it’s a good fundraiser for us,” she said. The spring 2007 Faire brought in $13,535 before expenses. However, the ASUO had to pay $3,600 for parking permits for vendors and $712 in security charges.
Other costs include renting the EMU Amphitheater, T-shirts for volunteers, and paying for street clean-up and dumpsters.
For the past two years the numbers from the fall and spring Faires have been pretty consistent – $12,000 to $13,500 before costs each time – except for fall of 2005, when revenue plunged to $7,071, according to student government documents.
“That year was the year that we had to (first) pay for parking,” ASUO Vice President Chii-San SunOwen said. Before then, the University provided parking. By the time ASUO was informed they would have to foot the bill, it was too late to pass on any of the cost to vendors, so they paid it all.
“It really affects what we can give back to the students,” ASUO Accountant Lynn Giordano said of the parking expense. This year the ASUO is splitting the cost of parking with vendors, but they have not yet figured out a way to make up for lost funds.
SunOwen and Barrett said they will work to figure out a way to increase returns after this fair. Ideas include finding space for more vendors by stretching booths around the amphitheater or running booths down University Street in an L shape, SunOwen said.
Currently vendors pay on a sliding scale based on the size of their booths and what they sell, according to Barrett. Prices range from $155 for a 10-by-10-foot booth for craft vendors to $355 for a 10-by-20-foot booth for food vendors. Student groups are charged $10.
The charges for vendors are the only source of income the Faire brings the ASUO, Barrett said. Vendors will sell clothing -“lots of young funky stuff”- and “food from Peruvian to barbecue,” she said.
Tom Tom of Tom’s Tea House in Eugene said he has had a booth at the Faires since he opened his first restaurant just off campus 32 years ago.
“We are the old ones,” he said. “We sell real Chinese food – stir-fry, healthy and inexpensive.” Tom said he and his wife, who own and operate the restaurant, keep coming back “because we like the students. When you go with the young all the time they keep you young and happy.”
Tom said business varies at the Faires from year to year.
“It depends on the weather,” he said. “If the weather’s good we make a good profit.”
Weather is also a factor for Jay Olsen, owner of Shoes Right Here. He usually brings items to give away such as notebooks, backpacks and coupons, besides selling shoes at his booth.
“We don’t make that much profit,” Olsen said. “We try to keep our name out there for the students.”
He said he may not even sell anything this week because he does not want to risk the inventory of his small business in bad weather.
“If it’s raining out, it’s probably not going to be worth the risk to me because we don’t want to ruin our merchandise,” he said.
Businesses are not the only ones giving away free stuff. Student groups and nonprofits such as OSPIRG will try to lure students to various causes with swag. Jesse Hough, co-chair of the University OSPIRG chapter, said his group will give away a limited number of colored wristbands marked “Stop Global Warming.”
“We’re going to be talking about the issues because that’s a big part of what we’re about,” Hough said. “It just so happens wristbands get people to slow down.”
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