Mad-March-Market

Celebrating Faversham with our Mad March Markets

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Celebrating Faversham with our Mad March Markets

By Jess Roberts

Faversham Markets hosted a weekend of Mad March Markets and great fun was had by all.

Fun-packed weekend

The Mad March Markets brought thousands of visitors into Faversham on the 26th and 27th of March. What a weekend it was. 

The event was organised by Faversham Town Council, Faversham Markets, Red Dog PR and many great volunteers. It was held to celebrate the arrival of spring and life getting back to normal, following two years of restrictions. 

Many old and new faces took to the cobbled streets to set up their wonderful stalls full of local produce, handmade items, artwork, interactive crafts and more. Visiting Faversham Markets is always a great opportunity to meet the maker, and likewise for the businesses to meet their customers. We saw a lot of happy shoppers and stallholders spending time getting to know each other at the market weekend, which isn’t something you’ll see in national retail chains! You’ll always find a warm welcome and smiling faces here, the Faversham community is one of the best. 

Businesses joined in the fun!

Many of Faversham’s local businesses and shops also got involved in the Mad March Weekend and worked very hard on their window displays. A challenge was set to Faversham’s shops prior to the event to decorate their windows, celebrating all things spring, and we weren’t disappointed. The public voted for their favourites, and the results came in at the end of the second day. 

First place went to The Yarn Dispensary, who decorated their windows beautifully in knitted bunting, stockings, jumpers, and more. Their trophy was presented to The Yarn Dispensary team by Faversham’s Mayor, Alison Reynolds. A special shout out has to go out to the two runners up, Ollie Bongos Pet Essentials and Lotty’s Flowers, whose windows were superb. A lot of time and effort went into everybody’s windows and the results were very close – Faversham town centre looked very special. Thank you to all those that took part, and to the sponsors Alloy Marketing. 

Fun and games

Activities throughout the weekend included the Spot The Hare trail, which was another great success. Hundreds of programmes were picked up and taken around Faversham’s shops to find the hidden hares. The aim was to jot down the letter that the hare was hiding to spell out a secret word. Everybody that completed the task was entered into a hat to pick two winners to win family tickets to the Royal Cinema and some lovely spring pots from Richard’s Plants. 

During the course of the weekend, there was live music, entertainment, and even an appearance from a very cute, miniature pony!

Labyrinth and The Hospice Band provided visitors with some great music which attracted a great crowd, provided a fantastic atmosphere and was key to the success of the event. The two bands also managed to raise an admirable amount of £600 to help support the Hospice and the crisis in Ukraine.

Merryman the Jester was also present, providing fun and entertainment for the children. He never fails to impress with his juggling, magic tricks and silly pranks.  Roleplay Rascals created a fantastic dressing up opportunity, where children could pose in child-sized toy packaging! Craft activities were provided by local charity Holding On Letting Go on Saturday and on Sunday, Nan in a Van entertained the children with pottery painting.

In addition to all of this, we also had a special guest named Rupert. Rupert was a Shetland pony who visited the markets on the Saturday. He enjoyed his time taking photos with the Easter bunny, getting petted by the visitors and munching on hay throughout the day. If you missed him, he will be back at Christmas!  Rupert’s appearance was sponsored by Harrisons Homes and also managed to raise an admirable £200 for Holding On Letting Go.

A great success

Overall, the event was a huge success and brought everyone together after a tough time during the course of the pandemic. We look forward to many more events in Faversham in the weeks to come. 

Claire Windridge, from Faversham Town Council, says: “The purpose of the weekend’s activities was to welcome visitors and shoppers back to Faversham and showcase the town’s wonderful shops and  businesses. A massive thank you to the visitors and businesses who supported the event, it was wonderful to see so many people in town having fun.”

Thank you

Congratulations to Faversham Market,  Faversham Town Council, Red Dog PR and all the charities, stallholders, businesses and entertainers who worked hard to ensure the weekend was a success.  A wonderful example of everyone working together for the good of Faversham.

Lottys-Flowers-Mothers-Day-ideas

Mothers Day Gift Ideas

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Many of us couldn’t celebrate Mother’s Day how we wanted to last year, so we’d love to make it a day to remember this time around. Coming up on the 27th of March, you don’t have long to get your day planned.

Here are some suggestions for hints to give your children, or some ideas on how to treat your own Mum.

Flowers

Starting off simple, you can’t go wrong with a bunch of flowers, any mother would be delighted to receive some. You can head to Lotty’s Flowers in the Market Place or D&G Florist in East Street – both shops have flowers for all price ranges, from charming springtime daffodils to big bouquets.

Afternoon Tea

We can’t think of a better occasion than Mother’s Day to head into town for a spot of afternoon tea. We have plenty of tea rooms to pick from in Faversham such as: Cosgroves, Havishams, The Yard, The Secret Garden Café at Standard Quay, Creek Creative café, Upstairs Downstairs by Morrisons, the Café by the Creek at Oare and more.

Head to the Markets

The upcoming Mad March Market falls on Mother’s Day and will be a lovely place to celebrate along with friends and family. There will be live music from Labyrinth and The Hospice Band, entertainment from local stalls and Merryman The Jester, and several activities such as a ‘Spot The Hare Trail’ and a window display competition. We’ve heard there will also be a pony named Rupert at the market ready for meet and greets.

Alongside all of these lovely extras, there will also be plenty of opportunities to support local businesses by shopping at their weekend stalls. If you can’t make it on Sunday, it will also be on the Saturday from 9am until 3.30pm.

Don’t forget a card

Don’t forget a card! Presentimes, Barley Mow, No77, Forget Me Not, and more local shops are all full of a terrific selection of Mother’s Day cards. If you need wrapping paper these shops will also have you covered. You needn’t leave Faversham!

Picking the perfect gift

Shopping small is much more meaningful than shopping at big online retailers. You can often find one-of-a-kind gifts in Faversham that are much more special. Thankfully, Faversham is full of wonderful independent businesses. Take a look in Top Hat & Tales for accessories and artwork, No77 for interior pieces, soaps and jewellery, and Creek Creative for pieces from local artists and makers. The Best of Faversham Market is also on 19th and 26th of March, which is a great opportunity to meet the makers and see what they have to offer.

Treat Mum to a meal

We are lucky that Faversham is full of friendly pubs, cafes, and restaurants waiting to serve you and your family.

Does your mum love a glass of wine? Head to Vinos on Court Street or newly opened Baltic House Wine bar at Standard Quay – the perfect place to wind down and enjoy some delicious drinks. Next door is Papa Bianco which creates the best handmade pizzas, with monthly specials, desserts and more. If your mum would rather some nachos, head back to the Market Place to visit California Cravings for your fix of Mexican cuisine.

Of course, we have many great restaurants In Faversham many serving delicious Sunday lunches. Check out The Pheonix, The Quay, The Sun Inn, Ask Italian, and The Yard to name just a handful, who are all taking bookings for Mother’s Day.

We hope that this blog has given you some ideas on how to treat your mum this Mother’s Day, and that you have the best day surrounded by Family and Friend’s.

Mad March illustration

Faversham Mad March Market

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Celebrate the arrival of spring with Mad March Market – 26th and 27th March

To celebrate the end of a difficult time for many local people and businesses, Faversham Town Council and Faversham Market have joined forces to hold a Mad March Market.  This will celebrate the best of Faversham in spring and will welcome back visitors, shoppers and residents to this lovely town.

What to look forward to

There will be a bumper weekend of markets. There will be a selection of stalls from Faversham Charter Market, Best of Faversham Market and Faversham Antiques & Vintage Market making an appearance.

The whole family will also be able to enjoy a mad selection of activities and entertainment including:

  • Meet Rupert the Pony, sponsored by Harrison Homes
  • Street entertainment including magic and fun
  • Music
  • ‘Spot the Hare’ trail
  • Fun photo opportunities
  • Window Display competition, sponsored by Alloy Marketing

12 Market Place will be hosting talks and demonstrations by local producers along with fun activities for children.

Many of the town centre’s unique and independent shops, cafes and businesses will also be open for visitors to enjoy. 

Where it’s taking place

Taking place in Faversham Market Place and Court Street along with a Best of Faversham Market in Preston Street on Saturday.  There will also be displays and activities in The Town Hall at 12 Market Place.  Most of the fun will be taking place between 10am and 3pm.

The weekend’s themes

Sunday 27th is Mother’s Day. The Mad March Market will be a lovely way to spend some time with family and friends, without breaking the piggy bank.

The organisers will be working with local attractions and businesses to highlight the best of Faversham this season. There will be a focus on food and drink; flowers, nature and growing; farming; creativity and more.

More information

If you are a business, trader or attraction and would like to find out how you can get involved – please email [email protected].

For more information click here.

Fiver Fest Faversham banner

Fiver Fest Faversham Returns 9th – 23rd October ’21

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IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT FIVER FEST FAVERSHAM

We are absolutely delighted to announce that Fiver Fest Faversham will return this October thanks to the support of Faversham Town Council.

Claire Windridge from Faversham Town Council, has kindly offered to co-ordinate Faversham’s Fiver Fest in order to secure the continued success of this excellent event for residents and businesses alike.

Don’t worry, the InFaversham team will still be helping in the background and supporting Claire and her colleagues at Faversham Town Council in any way we can.

We (InFaversham) have organised two successful Fiver Fest events that have been enjoyed by both businesses and shoppers, plus we’ve had a lot of fun along the way.

However, as volunteers we can only do so much, and to see that the event will now be formally organised and ensure it has a future supporting Faversham businesses, makes us feel much more optimistic about it’s future success.

What is Fiver Fest Faversham?

The Fiver Fest is part of a nationwide volunteer-led organisation called Totally Locally which supports small independent businesses to come together to create a more vibrant, stronger and resilient town by encouraging the community to think and act locally. 

Faversham is just one of over 100 towns across the UK that come together for a fortnight to encourage shoppers to support their independent high street and businesses.

Fiver Fest is being organised by Faversham Town Council and InFaversham (the website about local businesses for people who shop in Faversham) which is run by volunteers.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Businesses taking part put on special £5 offers over 2 weeks, to show the diversity and value of what they sell, and to say thank you to the communities that support them.

Businesses come together to support each other, share each others offers, create maps, do trails, work on PR – everything to get people moving around the town, and discovering their local independent shops.

AN OPPORTUNITY…

This is not about just selling £5 things. It’s an opportunity for you to get people through the door who haven’t ever stepped foot in your shop, or who haven’t been for ages. What you do when they get there is up to you.

Don’t worry if you don’t sell a lot of your special offer. It’s not about that (your offer may not be right for everyone). The idea is to get people engaged with the campaign and talking about our local businesses.

£5 OFFERS

Offers should be something with a £5 spend to tie in with the £5 message (don’t use discounts like £5 or 5% off), Businesses not on the high street such as services, fitness etc can offer introductory services to get new clients on board. Make the offer for something brill, not just old stock you are trying to shift.

Don’t worry if you are stuck for ideas, we are here to help, ideas are what we are good at so get in touch and we will help you to find a fantastic £5 offering.

WHAT WILL I GET OUT OF IT?

Apart from a fantastic opportunity to engage and take part in helping to revive the town, you will be part of a National Campaign and get all the promotion, PR, and media opportunities that go with it.  

You will get posters to put in your window, trail maps of all the businesses taking part to giveaway, merchandise (optional purchase) like our lovely tote bags (how about putting together a fab goody bag?) to promote the campaign.  Lots of local media coverage via Faversham Fiver Fest Facebook pages, Instagram and Twitter plus promotion on InFaversham website and Facebook page.  Oh and of course sharing and mentions on everyone else’s social media who takes part and gets involved.  

It’ll be a blast.

How Do I Get Involved?

Simply download, complete and return the registration form below and return it to [email protected] along with your £10 registration by the 29th of September* and we will do the rest.

Fiver-Fest-Proposition-to-Businesses-Oct-21Download

*Please ensure that you have registered before this date to be included on the town map and to benefit from any pre event publicity.

Postcards

Discover Faversham – Free postcards for residents!

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Discover Faversham is a fantastic local initiative which welcomes all new residents to Faversham with a beautiful postcard pack featuring local businesses and attractions.

About Discover Faversham Postcards

At InFaversham, we believe that as the town welcomes thousands of new faces, it is so important to promote the importance of supporting local businesses to current and new residents .    

With this in mind, a group of local tourism related businesses and communications consultants worked together to come up with ideas of how to raise awareness of these attractions and businesses with local people. 

This is how the Discover Faversham postcard initiative was born! 

Thirteen wonderful postcards featuring beautiful photos of local attractions and businesses have been produced and distributed in colourful photographic envelopes. Each card has a short blurb and information on the back promoting each local business, they can be kept or sent to family and friends, with.

Here are the businesses taking part

  • Mount Ephraim – Ten glorious acres of terraced gardens, featuring a Japanese rock garden, lake, water garden, arboretum, and a spectacular grass maze.
  • The Alexander Centre – A Large multipurpose hall available to hire for all kinds of activities. There is also a varied programme of events throughout the year, and offices to lease on the upper floors.
  • Faversham Pools – Year-round indoor pools with heated lido and family fun pools through the summer.
  • Monkshill Refectory – Sat on the hill above Seasalter, Monkshill Refectory hosts classes and pop-ups from the team behind Wasted Kitchen. 
  • Faversham Town Council – Local parish council working for the people of Faversham.
  • Standard Quay – Historic quay with beautiful, medieval buildings, traditional barges and home to a fabulous selection of shops and businesses. 
  • Edible Culture  – Nursery and garden centre located on London road. It is peat, pesticide and ‘single use’ plastic free and open 7 days a week. 
  • Macknade Food Hall – Experience the very best in food and drink from across the country. 
  • Doddington Place Gardens – Ten acres of landscaped gardens in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Towering clipped yew hedges, an extensive rock garden, a woodland garden and herbaceous borders.
  • Belmont House – A beautiful gerogian house set in stunning parkland with views of the rolling Kent countryside. 
  • Brogdale Collections – Home to the National Fruit Collection which contains thousands of rare and heritage fruit trees.
  • Huckleberry Woods – A small, rustic farm devoted entirely to micro and miniature animals.
  • Wasted Kitchen – Great tasting food and drink using local seasonal, and excess produce. Find their food at Macknade Food Hall. 

Especially after the year we’ve all faced, with many small businesses having to close their doors. We encourage you all to support local when and where you can. The postcard participants are a great selection of shops, attractions and hospitality businesses to discover and support when you can.

Businesses working together

Discover Faversham is a great example of local businesses working together. 

Red Dog PR created the concept, and liaised with participating businesses and designers. Poppy and Swiss Illustrations helped with the design to make them an attractive pack to keep, or to send to friends and family. Shoreway Marketing researched the new housing estates and organised the leaflet distribution. They enlisted Little Legs to deliver the thousands of packs of postcards through local letterboxes.

It was great to see so many local businesses and attractions working together and getting behind the initiative.

How to get your postcards

Postcard packs are being delivered to all new developments around Faversham along with local estate agents.  However, if you would like a postcard pack and one doesn’t drop through your letterbox, you can pick up a set from the foyer at Creek Creative or from any participating businesses. 

Summer at Brogdale Farm

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Summer at Brogdale Farm.

At Brogdale Farm, they are looking forward to life returning to normal, with the lifting of restrictions. The staff will still be doing everything they can to keep guests safe, but with better weather on the way, we think Brogdale Farm is the perfect place to grab some essentials or just get away from it all.   

Keeping the kids busy!

There’s plenty to do at Brogdale in the great outdoors, whether you’re visiting with family or friends:  

  • Orchard passes are available all year long from Brogdale Collections, allowing you unlimited visits for pre-booked orchard walks and daily tours. 
  • During the school holidays, enjoy a workshop at Brogdale Collection’s Music Garden, where kids can learn a piece of percussion-based music, with a performance and parade as the finale. 
  • Check out Brogdale Collections’ outdoor cooking session for kids, where they can learn new skills whilst cooking up some delicious fun meals!
    You can book the above online here 

Grown-ups should have fun too! 

  • Book a foraging walk with Brogdale Collections for September and enjoy a circular walk around the Kent countryside, finding out how to identify the wide variety of edible plants and fungi available in the wild. 
  • Take a gardening course and change from a novice to an expert gardener in one day! 

Why not make a day of it and get a tasty lunch from The Courtyard Café, or as you’re treating yourself, try one of their delicious homemade cakes?  

Time for a pamper!

After all of those outside activities, we believe the best way to unwind and slow down is to visit Country Practice. For the ultimate in relaxation, why not book yourself a treatment with this popular holistic therapy centre?   A massage treatment with hot stones must be the ultimate stressbuster, or you could try a holistic facial or some relaxing reiki. Choose from their full list of treatments here. 

Top it all off with a new haircut from Vicki Lord Hair, who joined the Brogdale Family last year. Vicki specialises in cutting, colouring, styling and braiding. Book in online here. 

Your pets don’t need to miss out either. After a potter around the marketplace, they’ll be ready for a post-lockdown pamper as well. Lush Puppies offers a wide range of grooming services for dogs. Run by an experienced, qualified groomer who provides one-to-one grooming for dogs of all shapes and sizes in a happy, safe environment. Book them in with Lush Puppies here.  

The treats don’t have to end there. Before you leave, stop in at their shops for some fresh local produce to enjoy at home after your day of treatments.  

After nearly 18 months of restrictions, we’ve all learnt to appreciate our own outdoor spaces. Get your garden in tip top shape by visiting Grow at Brogdale. Browse their website for their full range of fruit trees, vegetable seeds and plants. Grow also offer advice through their online shop, emails and telephone.

Click here for details of all businesses at Brogdale Farm.  

Jon Munn, Faversham Salvation Army - At The Heart, Faversham Guildhall

Discover Faversham Postcard Campaign

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With thousands of people moving to Faversham, it’s more important than ever to make sure they are aware of and encouraged to support local businesses and attractions.  We’ve been working with a group of local organisations on a postcard campaign to promote Faversham. This comprises a pack of attractive postcards (one for each participating business) to be distributed to 1,000 new build properties along with a wider distribution to local accommodation providers and estate agents in particular.

Hopefully by working collaboratively and splitting the cost, this could be an affordable option for many local businesses to reach new residents and visitors.

Overview:

  • To raise the profile of visitor-related businesses and attractions in Faversham among residents moving into new housing developments
  • To be given out by local estate agents to house hunters and people moving to the area
  • Can also be placed in B&Bs and hotel rooms for visitors
  • Surplus postcards can be printed for sole use of participating businesses
  • Attractive postcards, each featuring a participating business themed as ‘Discover Faversham’
  • Packs of postcards delivered in colourful, branded envelopes will be hand delivered to each new build property, local estate agents and Faversham accommodation
  • There are 1,000 new properties in Faversham, with more being developed
  • We need at least eight businesses to participate for economies of scale

Timings:

  • Businesses to confirm their participation by 2nd July
  • Postcards and envelope designed by 16th July
  • Printing completed by 23rd July
  • Distribution to take place 24th July onwards as school holidays commence

Price:

  • 2,000 postcards printed, included in branded envelopes and delivered as above – £250 per business
  • To print an additional 1,000 postcards for sole use by business – £50

If you’re interested in being part of this and are a business of interest to visitors and shoppers – please email [email protected] by end of 2nd July 2021.

Fabulous photo by Jon Munn for Capture Faversham.

Papa Bianco is taking part in Faversham Fiver Fest.

STANDARD QUAY SUPPORTS FIVER FEST 2021

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About Standard Quay

With its medieval warehouses and attractive businesses – Standard Quay is becoming a very popular place for people to eat, drink and shop in Faversham.

The quayside destination is just a short walk from the town’s historic Market Place down the gorgeous Abbey Street. It also boasts beautiful views across the Creek to Faversham Marshes.

Supporting Fiver Fest

Standard Quay is very keen to support the businesses located on its lovely site. It also wants to promote Faversham as a wonderful place to visit, live and shop. To this end, they have kindly lent their support to Fiver Fest Faversham.

The fabulous Fiver Fest offers you can pick up at Standard Quay include:

  • Papa Bianco’s buy one pizza and get a margarita for £5 Special deal
  • and What Now? at Baltic House’s five pound tickets to their comedy club (a tiny venue which is attracting some really big names!).

Standard Quay’s businesses

Standard Quay itself contains some very appealing businesses including a number of antiques and vintage businesses, selling everything from old Beano albums, to dining tables, to vintage tools and everything between.  Pierre & Dom has a fine selection of vintage pictures, paintings, photos and prints. Aladdin’s Cave, as its name implies, includes an eclectic collection including tea sets, vintage clothing, jewellery and more.

There are also a number of shops selling fresh produce including the Butcher of Brogdale, Herman’s Plaice Fishmongers and Salt & Spice, which as well as blending its own spice mixes, sells wonderful fresh fruit and veg.

If you need a break and fancy some breakfast, lunch or tea – then the Secret Garden Café at Standard Quay is a lovely spot to enjoy freshly prepared, locally sourced food.  If the weather is being kind, there’s a peaceful outdoor garden where you can enjoy your meal.  The café is dog-friendly too – ideal if you’re also enjoying a walk along the Creek.

Papa Bianco’s delicious, freshly prepared pizzas are an extremely popular attraction at Standard Quay where you can sit and watch the sun set over the Creek while enjoying your meal.  Both What Now? and Papa Bianco offer a lovely spot for a drink or two on the Quay too.

Easy to visit

Parking at Standard Quay is free and many visitors use it as a base to explore Faversham, as the town centre is only a ten minute walk away.  Or if you’re feeling adventurous, you can hire a Surrey Bike and explore the area by pedal-power!

For more information on Standard Quay visit http://standardquay.co.uk/

Screenshot 2021-06-16 at 18.05.44

BUSINESSES – HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OUT OF FIVER FEST FAVERSHAM

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Fiver Fest is organised at a national level by Totally Locally, it’s a celebration our independent high streets and businesses which, during lockdown, have proven that more than ever, our local businesses play a pivotal role in the wellbeing of our communities. 

FIVER FEST is the chance for independent businesses to use their collective power to encourage people back to our town centres and to use local businesses. To say thank you to customers who supported them during lockdown and to prove once again, that the small guys can compete with the online giants & the supermarkets. In fact, they beat them hands down in many ways, but most of all their contribution to our local economies. 

There are over 100 towns involved in this year’s Fiver Fest, but in Kent there are only two towns taking part and they are both in Swale (Totally Locally Sheerness and Fiver Fest Faversham). This gives us a chance to target the “staycation” and day visitors market that we all know will be very busy this year and promote via Visit Faversham, Visit Swale, Visit Kent and beyond what is going on during the fortnight, show your offers to the visitors market as well as locals and showcase what you have to offer throughout the remainder of 2021.

What can I do to promote my business?

  1. Firstly, check that we know about your offers. The latest list is here. If Something is wrong let us know and we will change it.  https://infaversham.co.uk/fiverfestoffers/
  2. Share your offers.  Put up posters in your windows, share them online.  Here is a link to the official graphics https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u13xve7oagy8rbw/AAD7TpzCLy1yYc69nl_01ItFa?dl=0  Be sure to mention your company name as well as your offer.
  3. Tag.  Always tag @totallylocally @infaversham @fiverfestfaversham.  Totally Locally have already shared a number of Faversham businesses posts, they have large followings and can put your offer in front of a whole new audience.  This is especially good if you have an online element to your business.
  4. Hashtags.  People do actively search through hashtags so always add #FiverFestFaversham and #FiverFest as standard.  You may also want to think about adding #Faversham #VisitFaversham #HelpKentbuylocal plus any relevant to your business/offer
  5. Join our group.  We have set up a participants’ group on Facebook to share hints and tips of how to make the most of Fiver Fest.  Join it here (and remember to contribute!) https://www.facebook.com/groups/612291416136462
  6. The InFaversham volunteers are running a market stall again on Friday.  We are handing out literature and telling shoppers about Fiver Fest.  We had a fantastic response from this last time, there were some lovely comments about how much shoppers enjoyed the last event and how excited they were by this one. Make sure they have some info about your business to take away.  You can give us literature/discount cards or freebies such as pens/keyrings etc either on the market stall or drop it into Creek Creative.
  7. Goodie bags.  In addition to the market stall, we will be selling our Love Faversham Goodie Bags online throughout the remainder of the year.  All of the businesses that we have literature or goodies from will be included.  Think about what may make the owners of these bags want to investigate your business.  Postcards, keyrings, badges, facemasks, pens etc are all relatively inexpensive and are generally held onto much longer than a flier.  Maybe offer a special goodie bag discount?
  8. Donate a raffle prize.  We are running a raffle to win a hamper of goodies from Faversham Businesses in aid of The Faversham Umbrella.  Each business will get extra publicity and it is always lovely to be associated with supporting local charities.
  9. Share other businesses offerings.  Have you taken up a Fiver Fest deal? If so, take a picture and share it (remembering to tag the business you bought from).  The more you share other people’s deals the more interest in the event and your business. Plus, it generally shares a little love around the town.

What are you doing to promote my business

Fiver Fest Faversham is run in a different way to most of the other towns taking part.  Other towns organise Fiver Fest either directly from the participating businesses or the have organisations such as Traders Groups, Business Investment District or council run Shop Local initiatives giving them access to money and resources.  

Fiver Fest Faversham is organised by InFaversham who are a team of volunteers that mostly own noncustomer facing businesses and have no direct benefit from taking part.  Why do we do it?  We do it because we believe in the shop local message and we believe it has an impact on the local economy which is a benefit to everyone.  Plus, we love all things Faversham.  

We have been very lucky this time in that we have been able to get support from Faversham Town Council and have sponsorship from businesses who also believe this is a worthy event and love Faversham.  Thanks to William Property Management, Brogdale Farm, Standard Quay and Faversham Flooring we have been able to provide more benefits to the businesses taking part in the event this time around.

Here is a list of what we have provided so far:

  • Town maps.  We have produced a town map featuring businesses taking part.  The maps have been handed out physically and digitally around town.
  • Market Stall.  This year we have taken on two Friday market stalls to engage with shoppers and spread the Fiver Fest message We also had out literature from participating businesses.
  • Public Relations.  We have already had Fiver Fest Faversham featured in a number of publications including Kent Messenger, Community Ad magazine, Visit Kent and Swale.  Radio Kent and BBC South East are talking to us about features also.
  • Posters and social graphics.  We have printed posters for businesses to use and provided digital versions for online use.
  • Social media shout outs and shares.  We are sharing on everyone who has mentioned the event to our two Facebook pages and Instagram accounts (plus local groups when relevant). We also are using stories to maximise their reach.  Many local Faversham businesses are already being featured on the Totally Locally network of followers and are being shared by followers.
  • Bimble.  We have added a Fiver Fest Faversham Guide to Bimble.  We have added all of the participating businesses into there.  If you don’t know what Bimble is, it’s best described as a cross between TripAdvisor & Pinterest. We think it’s more like Spotify – for your favourite places: a way to hold onto them, share them, support them, hear from them and discover new ones shared by the community.  The Bimble team are promoting the Faversham Guide via their own social media channels https://bimble.com/lists/fiverfest-faversham-june-2021/6733813442936832?fbclid=IwAR1gu4ouaSRL9PEIeZeIL7PXvexDmu5L1iTt-ikLYL0lUSMXnrfQXa-9ies or download the app.
  • Facebook group.  We run a participants’ FB group offering help and advice throughout the fiver fest fortnight
  • Raising a bit for charity.  In addition to all of this, we are running a raffle to win a hamper of Faversham goodies, giving businesses donating prizes another chance to get there name out there and raising some money for Faversham Umbrella.

We hope you are really enjoying being part of Fiver Fest Faversham and would love to hear your views.  If you have any questions or thoughts please email us at [email protected]

Mark 4

Meet the Sponsors – William Property Management

by with No Comment BusinessNews

When you think of independent businesses on your local high street, you could probably be forgiven for not thinking of letting or estate agents straight away. However, certainly here in Faversham, there is one agent that is very much part of the community. 

Without William Property Management stepping in to sponsor the first Fiver Fest Faversham last year, we wouldn’t have got this initiative off the ground. For the second Fiver Fest fortnight, whilst we managed to gain the support of Faversham Town Council and additional sponsors, we are delighted to welcome William Property Management back as our main sponsor again.

To find out why they are so behind the Fiver Fest iniative, Fiver Fest Faversham organiser Liz Jeffery sat down with Mark Greenwood who is the Managing Director of William Property Management.  

Mark, why did you decide to sponsor Fiver Fest Faversham for a second time? 

When I heard about the Fiver Fest initiative I thought it was a fantastic concept.  It’s a good idea generally, but after the effects of Covid and town centre access restrictions, businesses really did need support and they continue to do so, so sponsoring for a second time was a no brainer for me.

I really like the whole £5 message, it makes people think about how their spending directly impacts the local economy and the whole event really does create a community spirit and a real buzz around the town.

Have been involved in supporting the local community in other ways too?

Yes!  Apart from trying to shop local where possible and attend as many events as I can (when they are able to run)  I was also a founder member of the Faversham Traders Association.

Do you have a £5 offer to run during Fiver Fest?

We’ve created our own £5 offer, giving new landlords their first month’s property management fees for £5 if they sign up during the Fiver Fest fortnight.

About William Property Management

William Property Management was established in 2009, after noticing the need for a good letting service that was approachable and transparent.  They are now recognised as the leading letting agent in Faversham due to their outstanding customer service.  They have been awarded GOLD by the prestigious British Property Awards for three years running, judged the Best Letting Agent in Faversham.

To find out more about William Property Management’s commitment to outstanding customer service and to find out how they can help you, please visit https://www.williampropertymanagement.com