Max's Trader Days has some vendors letting out a sigh of relief after a summer of canceled events.
Hundreds of vendors were lined up at the Allen County Fairgrounds ready for a weekend filled with shoppers, swappers, and bargainers. The giant-scale event brought vendors from out of state, and many say that most markets and festivals like this one have been canceled.
John Chase, a vendor at the event says, “It’s been tough because a lot of shows have been canceled and to find a decent show, you might have to travel an extra couple hundred miles due to a lot of the states are shut down including my own.”
Chase is from Erie Pennsylvania and his shop is his main source of income. He says that he’s lucky that he had savings he could dip into this year to make up for the lost profit, and that his busy season was practically canceled.
“For May June and July, I did zero shows, and that’s a peak time for me,” says Chase.
He’s not the only vendor that’s willing to travel to different market events like Max’s Trader Days.
Bonnie Watkins says, “Well we’ve had to be online a lot, spending a lot of time trying to hunt places that we could do shows.”
For Watkins, selling her hand-sewn items is more of a hobby, but the tractor show cancellations this summer left her with nowhere to sell. When she found Max’s Trader Days, she decided to give it a go and is selling for the first time ever at this event.
“I prefer the direct customer one-to-one so it’s really been good, I’ve missed that this summer,” says Watkins.
Sunday is the last day of Max's Trader days, and it is free to enter after 3 pm.
