I often hear how AC's new to the role are flung in at the deep end and expected to know what to do and perform like Mary Poppins. Truth is AC's do not have a magic carpet bag to pull out what is needed at the time to get the job done.
And often have to just learn on the job but do not fear I am here to help you on how best to organise your summer fete as this time of the year when the weather is good it is a great way to get residents, families and the community to come together to raise money for your home and everyone to know about your home.
Fetes can be anytime but traditionally are done in the summer, autumn, Easter and Christmas time.
So pick a time best for you and follow these top tips-
1. Choose the date
Set this as far in advance as possible; the more planning time you have the better.
Think about other local events such as a carnival or festival and whether you want your event to avoid or coincide. Check the sports calendar so you can avoid, for example, important football matches.
Tell relatives the date as soon as it is confirmed. From here on in, tell them in every newsletter, at every meeting, on your website and social media.
2. Getting people involved
You’re going to need a big bunch of willing helpers. There’s a lot to do in advance of the day.
Since you will be the one overseeing the event try and establish a steering group to oversee the event and then divide the areas of planning and organising into work teams. Work teams should coordinate activities such as food and drink, entertainment, publicity and promotion, stalls and the raffle.
Ask the handy man to help you out. Inform him/her of the date and work closely with them, using their knowledge and expertise to help you create things you need.
About three months before the event, start recruiting your volunteers. Send an open letter to all relatives asking for assistance, and a guide as to what help you are looking for. Fairs and fêtes can often attract relatives who have not volunteered in the past. Try and get the more able residents involved in running stalls and activities.
3. Licence to thrill
When planning your event you must investigate whether or not a licence is required. If you are serving alcohol you will probably need a Temporary Event Notice (TEN), and if you’re staging live, amplified music or selling raffle tickets in advance, you may even need a music or lottery licence. Contact your local authority licencing team .
4. Health and safety
Health and safety must be taken into account both at the planning stage and at the event itself. A risk assessment should be undertaken for the fair and for each activity within it. Risk assessments should be kept simple; they do not need to be too onerous.
It is also good practice to have someone in attendance that can administer basic first aid and deal with minor ailments plus have the ability to summons further assistance, should this be needed. I would suggest you appoint a particular member of staff to do this .
5. Check your insurance
It’s vital to ensure that your insurance policy is valid and that it includes public liability to cover all your activities, hired-in equipment, money loss, and personal accident cover for all your volunteers. (Your home would have this but check!)
If you are using the services of any outside suppliers, stallholders, or equipment providers, they must have their own public liability cover in place. Ask to see proof of this before the event as your insurance will probably cover you for holding the event, but not the company providing the service/activity. It is your responsibility to check in advance that they are adequately covered.
6. Stellar stalls
You will want to offer a balance of stalls or activities that attract both adults and children - cheap crowd-pleasers and thrilling money-spinners. Remember: stalls that give people something fun to do are important even if they do not make much money.
This is wear as an AC you will shine with your creative ideas here is a short list of ideas for you -
Face painting
How Many objects in a jar
Guess the name of the teddy
Wellie Wang- see who can toss a wellie the furthest.
Tombola
Raffle
Cake Stall
Burst the balloon- have strips of paper of win or lose in the balloon folded up and a stall of prizes people can choose if they win.
Coconut Shy stall
Tin can alley stall
Hoopla
7. Entertainment
Hiring third party entertainers and attractions such as musicians, dancers, clowns, magicians, displays of sports, a loan of the local fire engine, needs careful thought. Attractions such as these will add depth to your event, giving it a greater sense of occasion, drawing more interest from the local community. You may find that visitors to the fair stay longer, which may mean they spend more money. However this all needs to be weighed up against the initial expense of hiring in such entertainment.
All third party entertainers and hired-in activities must provide their own public liability cover.
8. Equipment
Make lists of every piece of equipment that each stall/activity needs. Consider if the stall is still financially viable if equipment needs to be hired or materials bought. Also whether the stall is freestanding or does it need a table and can it be moved indoors?
Hiring from commercial outlets will add to your costs. Contact your local authority to see if there is a non-profit alternative in your area .
If you do decide to hire, ensure you book early.
9. The Raffle
A raffle is a great fundraiser, but quite time consuming. Try to let someone organise this who does not have other fair related tasks or responsibilities.
Decide if you are going to run a simple on-the-day raffle, selling to people at the fair, or a more elaborate raffle, with printed tickets, which can be sold in advance.
Ensure you have a wide range of appealing raffle prizes. You do not need to have lots of prizes; ten items should be enough to make your raffle a success. Contact local businesses such as shops, cinemas and attractions to see if they would be willing to donate a raffle prize. Advise contributors that the home will publicise their organisation to the relatives and attendees on the day , as a way to encourage them to support you.
Put up posters on your notice boards, do emails to relatives , use your home newsletter to ask for donations too, as some relatives will be working for local businesses or may have unwanted gifts of their own that they would be willing to donate. Ask that all raffle prizes are delivered to a named person at the home or make arrangements to collect them.
10. Food and Drink
Food and refreshments are almost certainly guaranteed to make you an additional profit. However, much depends on the time of day, time of year and the facilities and equipment available to you. Quality is important and food hygiene is paramount.
11. Operational Planning
Draw up a ground plan, showing where everything is meant to go. Plan to put stalls run by residents next to each other and appoint helpers to support and help them at all times. Include car parking and access to the site (for the delivery of equipment).
If you plan to hold the event outside, have an adverse weather plan in place. Remember, extremely hot weather can be just as disruptive as wet / windy weather.
Work out how many tables each stall needs and whether you need chairs.
12. Timetable
In the lead up to the event, ensure all your volunteers are aware of what they have to do and by when.
At the last working group meeting before the event, ensure the final timings for the day are agreed and that all volunteers are aware of the timetable. Include pre and post event timings too, allowing plenty of time to set-up and clear away.
13. Programme
A simple programme detailing the activities at the event, the stalls on offer, and the location and timing of any displays is essential. It should also tell participants where the first aid post is located, and list details of the raffle such as prizes, cost of the tickets, when the draw will take place and how the winners will be notified.
The programme can also include details of the local businesses that have supported your fair or alternatively you could sell advertising space at the back of the programme, as an additional fundraiser.
14. Signage
Try and find a local business to sponsor the production of the signs in exchange for their logo being placed on the signs and/or an advertisement in the event programme.
Invest some time in making some signs for the basics e.g. Toilets, First Aid, Refreshments and Bar. Produce signs to direct participants to the stalls and activities that are not sited in the main arena. Print a few signs giving the time of the raffle draw and a list of raffle prizes to encourage the purchase of tickets.
Write out rules of all games on cards, to display at the relevant stalls. Decide the price of each attraction e.g. 20p a throw – three throws for 50p and print clear signs for each. Make and hang some large signs to advertise the next/future community invited home events. Laminate the signs so that they are weatherproof and can be reused.
15. MC/announcer
Find a good MC/announcer, who is confident and used to public speaking or be brave and do it yourself. Prepare a programme for the MC, so they are aware of the event timings and make sure they know the names of key people/businesses that warrant particular thanks during the event.
The MC can be useful when passing on information, such as price reductions at certain stalls. At the end of the event, following the raffle draw, ask the MC to thank all your volunteers and supporters.
16. Money
Remember to give your bank the requisite notice for a cash withdrawal of small coinage.
Think about introducing a simple book system. Allocate a page for each stall, ask the stall volunteers to sign for the float and then to sign each time cash is collected from their stall. Once this collection has been counted, this amount can then be initialled, before the money is securely stored.
Appoint 2-3 people to be responsible for the issue of floats, collection, counting and safe storage of cash, during the event.
17. Involve the local community
Ask around and you will find that many local businesses are keen to build bonds to promote their company and support their local community. From sponsorship of the event, paying for advertising in the Summer Fair programme to donating free supplies, there are lots of ways to work together.
Consider setting up a sponsorship scheme with local companies, just for the summer fair or even for a range or events throughout the year. You could offer three levels of sponsorship and give companies different benefits in return, depending on the level of sponsorship they opt for.
18. Spread the word
With all the effort that goes into your summer fair you’ll want as many people there as possible so publicity is vital. It is also time-consuming and labour intensive, so remember to allow plenty of time. Start planning the publicity material around three months ahead, so it is ready six weeks in advance of the event.
A few days before the event, undertake a leaflet-drop to residents in the local area. Invite the mayor to draw interest and get you more publicity.
Social media is quick, free and easy. Build your followers and encourage them to like, share and retweet details of the event. Your local town probably has a Twitter account, Facebook page or website too, so a tweet or post on their account will be seen by many in the local community.
For a week or so before the date, try having a table at the main entrance of the home to publicise the forthcoming fair, as a collection point for donations, for recruiting last-minute volunteers, dealing with queries and selling raffle tickets. This helps create a sense of build-up to the day.
19. On the day
Look after your volunteers and keep them informed.
Share the overall floor plan, taking account of which stalls need access to power. Create a list of jobs and write them on a whiteboard so helpers can get cracking. Distribute information for each stall so volunteers know the rules, how much to charge, and what to do with the money they take.
Create a rota so that people can take a break. Boost morale by providing pastries and decent tea and coffee at set-up.
20. Get ready for next year!
Document your highlights and challenges and file them along with templates and plans to make life easier next year.
Share your success; let people know how much money was raised and use photos, video and quotes to demonstrate the feel-good factor. Thank your helpers, sponsors and supporters.
Hope you found this helpful.
XXXX
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Until next time,
Keep Shining,
Ann Marie x
