Deadline for Fall Festival vendor sign up approaching

Anyone interested in setting up shop at the Fall Festival better act fast, as the deadline for vendors is quickly approaching.

All businesses and nonprofit organizations have until Monday, Aug. 31, to reserve their spot for the 2015 event, which takes place Sept. 24-27 at Petrack Park.

The Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce, who took over running the event this year from the Town of Pahrump, said interest has been great so far.

"Right now we have well over 100 vendors signed up," Chamber of Commerce Executive Assistant Matt Braun said.

Despite it being the first year the chamber is running the Fall Festival, one of the largest events held in town each year, they haven't seen any real issues filling vendor space.

"We're pretty well set," Braun said. "We've had some vendors that have carried over from the years when the town had it. So they passed on those applications to us and then Salli (Kerr) and myself have reached out to other vendors that we've had at some of our other events."

Being that the chamber has strong ties with most business in the valley, they have been able to attract vendors that have not participated in the event previously either, Braun explained.

The deadline is set to be a few weeks out from the event so the chamber can organize where all the vendors will be set up, which helps distance some of the chaos of dealing with the large number of participants.

"The Bob Ruud Center, their parking lot will be closed off and it is going to be our cottage businesses, people who primarily work out of their homes and are nonprofit," Braun said. "Then the middle section is going to be more of the food vendors. There could be provisions made if they say, have a food truck or something, they may be placed somewhere else. Then the retail area, there will be another section closed off for that.

"Back by the rodeo arena, that will be for the 4-H section and other nonprofits that deal with animals. Then by the basketball court there will be one of the beer booth vendors and by the rodeo arena will be our second nonprofit beer vendor."

Braun estimated that there will end up being around 200 total vendors by the time deadline approaches at the end of the month, which is on par with the totals from years past.

Of those vendors there is a wide variety of businesses and organizations offering all kinds of different products.

"We have people selling food, to people that sell dolls and pillows, to information on hospice care, a lot of handmade jewelry, dream catchers, so it's pretty well even and spread out," Braun said.

Anyone interested in becoming a vendor at the 2015 Fall Festival you can do so in two ways. You can go online to www.pahrumpchamber.com and download and fill out an application, or stop by the Chamber of Commerce located at 1301 S. Highway 160 and pick up an application there.

Prices run $200 for vendors and $100 for local nonprofit organizations and local handcrafted item sellers.