Vendors happy with Balloon Fiesta sales

Posted at: 10/11/2009 10:56 PM | Updated at: 10/12/2009 7:24 AM
By: Valerie Castro, Eyewitness News 4; Charlie Pabst, KOB.com

Saturday evening and Sunday morning cancellations were a disappointing finish for Balloon Fiesta, but despite the poor finish, vendors say business was up over last year-- numbers that they're happy to head home with.

As quickly as they appeared, most vendors inside the tents of Main Street at Balloon Fiesta Park were gone.

The few that were left packing up on Sunday say even though this morning wasn't the strong finish they were hoping for, they still faired much better than last year.

Vendor Dave Webber said, "Kind of a downturn at the end-- short morning for us, but we had a really good event overall."

Webber sells t-shirts, hats and jackets. He says besides hoping for good weather, he tried to keep the slow economy in mind and make prices appealing.

"We had some more price point items for people to look at, and I think we did a good job of controlling our inventory and giving people something they wanted at a price that they could afford," Webber said.

Last year was Arbie Stone's first time at Balloon Fiesta with his shaved ice business-- something that didn't do so well in rainy weather. This year, he changed his strategy.

Stone said, "I was doing hot chocolate and coffee in the morning, and then I had lemonade, tea and shaved ice in the afternoons, so it was pretty good for me."

Even though the windy weather blew out the last day of business, Stone says he'll be back again next year.

"It is what it is, you take the good with the bad," Stone said.

Webber says he'll leave this year's fiesta with less leftover inventory compared to last year.

Stone says he plans to expand his shaved ice business with another stand next year.

 Visitors snap pics from every angle

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