First, a little about me. James.
I've had a lot of people ask me why I do this since I never take part in the shows myself with my business and gain nothing from it. I can never give a straight answer. I think for the most part I simply enjoy it. Some think this all started for me when I was in the Mall here in New Ulm, it did not. This all started for me when I was in Arlington, MN. My first "deal" I did was Halloween. I wanted to do something fun for the town so I tried to get the chamber of commerce to host a Halloween Trick-or-Treat event down Main Street. At that time, they wanted nothing to do with it, so I proceeded without them. Decorating the store, getting TONS of candy, we had over 400 people walk in and get scared! It was a great evening to say the least! After seeing what took place, the chamber wanted a piece of the action now. So the following year we started Fright Night in Arlington! All the businesses on Main Street got involved and businesses off main street came in and setup as well! We did a Haunted Alley which was great and a few other stores decorated as well. It was a BLAST!
After that I came to New Ulm to the Mall and shortly later did the first Craft & Vendor show during OktoberFest! The nice thing about that was the GM from Herbergers came to me and said "I have never seen this many people in the Mall before!" And we've been going ever since.
NUCVE thou technically only formed at the end of 2018 has been around putting together events since 2015.
The first show put together by James Haviland of Graffix Plus was OktoberFest inside Marketplatz Mall. Not having any clue what he was doing, he mustered together over 20 vendors & crafters and gave Markteplatz Mall one heck of a show! After this James decided it was worth having more shows and started scheduling additional events inside the Mall.
Needing help as things kept growing, Jennifer Nelson and Heather Ellanson who have been a great help were asked to join and help out which they did.
From there we kept planning events and moving forward to what we have today.
In early 2019 NUCVE joined the Chamber of Commerce in New Ulm and we also have a seat on the New Ulm Downtown Action Team.
All of the funds brought into the group stay within the group to fund other events such as Shop the Park & OktoberFest which are low cost events for us. All left over funds will go to pay for Holly Days with Santa. We do this because Holly Days with Santa is going to be a huge expense and we want to keep the cost to vendors and crafters low.
Other events such as Spooktacular will also be funded using left over funds from other events. While Spooktacular is not a craft & vendor show, we see Halloween as a great way to team up with other groups such as the New Ulm Small Business Owners Group who hosts Halloween Hop Trick-or-Treating to give New Ulm more of an event to look forward to each year.
One of the biggest changes we made this year was to Holly Days with Santa. While we tried to hold Holly Days with Santa the same day as New Ulm's Parade of Lights, that did not go over well with our Crafter's and Vendor's we had to switch to November 30 which is also Small Business Saturday. While this year we will step up some from last years Holly Days, each year we plan to add to the event making it better and better.
Our Vision:
The Vision of the New Ulm Craft and Vendor Event Group (NUCVE) aims to provide local, fun, and family-friendly events for our community. The NUCVE group strives to provide the community with opportunities to support local families and small business owners while simultaneously providing services and events for the community that help to shape who we are as a whole. Through events in our community the NUCVE group hopes that families are able to get involved in the community and engage with their neighbors to build and sustain a healthy foundation for our beautiful city. About our Events: Every event includes exciting vendors, delicious treats, and wonderful relationships to be cultivated. Many vendors that participate in our events give back to our local community, and all members are residents of New Ulm and the surrounding area! Events are free of charge to the public and open to all who would like to attend. Our Events: Love-A-Fair Show: Easter Eggstravaganza: Shop the Lot: Shop the Lot II-Back to School: Oktoberfest: Spooktacular with Halloween Hop: Holly Days with more being planned.
I've had a lot of people ask me why I do this since I never take part in the shows myself with my business and gain nothing from it. I can never give a straight answer. I think for the most part I simply enjoy it. Some think this all started for me when I was in the Mall here in New Ulm, it did not. This all started for me when I was in Arlington, MN. My first "deal" I did was Halloween. I wanted to do something fun for the town so I tried to get the chamber of commerce to host a Halloween Trick-or-Treat event down Main Street. At that time, they wanted nothing to do with it, so I proceeded without them. Decorating the store, getting TONS of candy, we had over 400 people walk in and get scared! It was a great evening to say the least! After seeing what took place, the chamber wanted a piece of the action now. So the following year we started Fright Night in Arlington! All the businesses on Main Street got involved and businesses off main street came in and setup as well! We did a Haunted Alley which was great and a few other stores decorated as well. It was a BLAST!
After that I came to New Ulm to the Mall and shortly later did the first Craft & Vendor show during OktoberFest! The nice thing about that was the GM from Herbergers came to me and said "I have never seen this many people in the Mall before!" And we've been going ever since.
NUCVE thou technically only formed at the end of 2018 has been around putting together events since 2015.
The first show put together by James Haviland of Graffix Plus was OktoberFest inside Marketplatz Mall. Not having any clue what he was doing, he mustered together over 20 vendors & crafters and gave Markteplatz Mall one heck of a show! After this James decided it was worth having more shows and started scheduling additional events inside the Mall.
Needing help as things kept growing, Jennifer Nelson and Heather Ellanson who have been a great help were asked to join and help out which they did.
From there we kept planning events and moving forward to what we have today.
In early 2019 NUCVE joined the Chamber of Commerce in New Ulm and we also have a seat on the New Ulm Downtown Action Team.
All of the funds brought into the group stay within the group to fund other events such as Shop the Park & OktoberFest which are low cost events for us. All left over funds will go to pay for Holly Days with Santa. We do this because Holly Days with Santa is going to be a huge expense and we want to keep the cost to vendors and crafters low.
Other events such as Spooktacular will also be funded using left over funds from other events. While Spooktacular is not a craft & vendor show, we see Halloween as a great way to team up with other groups such as the New Ulm Small Business Owners Group who hosts Halloween Hop Trick-or-Treating to give New Ulm more of an event to look forward to each year.
One of the biggest changes we made this year was to Holly Days with Santa. While we tried to hold Holly Days with Santa the same day as New Ulm's Parade of Lights, that did not go over well with our Crafter's and Vendor's we had to switch to November 30 which is also Small Business Saturday. While this year we will step up some from last years Holly Days, each year we plan to add to the event making it better and better.
Our Vision:
The Vision of the New Ulm Craft and Vendor Event Group (NUCVE) aims to provide local, fun, and family-friendly events for our community. The NUCVE group strives to provide the community with opportunities to support local families and small business owners while simultaneously providing services and events for the community that help to shape who we are as a whole. Through events in our community the NUCVE group hopes that families are able to get involved in the community and engage with their neighbors to build and sustain a healthy foundation for our beautiful city. About our Events: Every event includes exciting vendors, delicious treats, and wonderful relationships to be cultivated. Many vendors that participate in our events give back to our local community, and all members are residents of New Ulm and the surrounding area! Events are free of charge to the public and open to all who would like to attend. Our Events: Love-A-Fair Show: Easter Eggstravaganza: Shop the Lot: Shop the Lot II-Back to School: Oktoberfest: Spooktacular with Halloween Hop: Holly Days with more being planned.
Copyright 2018 nucve Website by Graffix Plus of New Ulm
