I was one of the 150 vendors at the Grand Strand Sports & Fishing Festival held on June 11-13, 2010 in Myrtle Bch. While recruiting vendors, Hubert Bullard promised "enormous crowds" of "20,000+ attendees" at the "biggest and best sports festival on the east coast". Based on the information Hubert gave us, we paid $315. for our (2) 10x10 booths. These fees were very high for a first time festival event.
We arrived to set up on Friday and it was apparent we had been duped. The entire location of the festival had changed. We were NOT in front of the mall as previously told. The festival was being set up south of the Bass Pro Shop and NOT in view of Hwy 17, or mall traffic.
Friday night brought approx 50 attendees. Many frustrated vendors left early. No attendees! We were not visible to the public! There was a line to get into the Bass Pro shop on Friday, and I was surprised to find there were NO signs around the store entrance, to direct customers to the festival. I made the suggestion to Hubert that we needed signage to make the public aware of the 150 (out of sight) vendors. His response was a blank look on his face... go figure!
Saturday was more of the same. All exhibitors were very upset and talked of being mislead and ripped off. Some vendors had traveled from Georgia, some came from as far as Ft Lauderdale, and had $0 sales!! Along with 3 other vendors, we packed up our booths about 1:00 on Saturday. Shortly after leaving, we found out that the majority of the other vendors also left. The 11:00 local news broadcast for WMBF reported vendors packing up early, and the lack of attendance.
Sunday morning around noon I visited the event to see what was left. There were 3 craft booths, and 2 or 3 food vendors. The entire show was a flop and had dwindled to nothing. I feel this is directly the fault of Hubert Bullard. The show was not organized and when the location changed, the price for exhibitors should have changed. Consideration should be made to refund 150 exhibitors. He has lost credibility with a lot of repeat festival exhibitors, and will surely find it difficult to fill his future events.
They should not bother attempting a 2nd Annual event!!!