Slice of Heaven will be hosting the Kunming Market Saturday, March 5th, from 2 to 6pm. There will be local organic produce and handicrafts and Barbara will be cooking up an organic meal. We need some ideas on how to draw a crowd. We'll have a good spread of vendors, so how can we get more people to come? Any ideas?

Hope to see you all there.

Kind of short notice - but if you're not against posting flyers (in Chinese), suggest you post flyers at hospitals and clinics for babies, infants, and children...as a good target against chemically polluted foods (and let's just hope the water supply isn't tainted with lead or other chemicals). Ok..newborns don't eat solid foods, but their families should (so target the docs...). Obviously this service is for affluent families - and who would know that better than the docs, who are affluent.

Also - taking a note from Japanese co-op farmers - you might want the suppliers (organics) to provide a list of their crops and work on a pre-ordering (weekly, monthly, etc) scheme, so instead of coming down to shop for whatever, we can either come down just to pick up our grocery lists OR they can home deliver. Pre-paid organic first "fruits" services usually come with a 20-30% premium - but when you factor in the commute fees, parking fees, and time spent (not to mention the husband having to act as the grocery mule) - the service of organic first fruits and pre-ordering groceries has incredibly high value.

For next time - you may want to start a non-twitter, non-facebook, twitter-facebook like blog...free viral advertising. As the philosophy goes, if one circle of friends connects to another circle of friends - within five circles, we should be able to reach HuJinTao's blog/twitter (kidding, but it may reach Obama)...
¥0.02

Thanks for the suggestions Laotou. I think it's looking pretty good for vendors, so I hope you can all make it out to Slice of Heaven on Saturday. It should be a good event.

This Saturday from 2 to 6 Slice of Heaven will be hosting the second Kunming market. This market will focus more on arts and crafts and prepared foods - there should be some good eats there. If you are interested in participating with your own table, be sure to let Barbara know in advance. I think she will also be cooking an Indian dinner after the market. Be sure to book a seat for this meal. Last month's Moroccan meal was delicious.

I think Laotou's suggestion is an excellent one. I heard that the like's of Haobao supply organic selection boxes. Talking to a number of people here about it, they would order if they got a selection they liked. Most of the time they are left with stuff they don't want so they have stopped ordering. A pre-ordering process might be a better way for these suppliers to sell their produce, especially if there is an easy collection mechanism such as the organic market. Could they not use GoKunming to list what's available (applies to all suppliers)?

That's a good idea, but not sure Haobao is ready for something like that. But maybe we can give it a try. Either way, the weather is perfect for today's market at Slice of Heaven. Should be good fun.

Bump...Slice of Heaven will be hosting Kunming Market again, this Saturday, June 4th from 2pm-6pm. Vendors will be selling homemade sausages and tortillas, wine, possilbly moving sale stuff, and much more. Also the Book Exchange/the Book Nook will be there selling used books so if anyone has requests for certain authors/titles for me to bring, please let me know via the forum or at thebookexchangekunming@gmail.com and I'll do my best to bring them along. Anyone else joining in?

Here's a partial list of titles/authors being brought to the Kunming Market. Let me know if you would like me to bring anything in particular before tomorrow's Market. See everyone at Slice of Heaven from 2-6pm on Saturday!

Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson
Harry Potter Books 1, 3, and 5
Buddhism in China by Kenneth Chen
Godfather's Revenge by Mario Puzo
Lost Horizon by James Hilton
Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kyosaki
I Lost My Love in Baghdad by Michael Hastings
Where or When by Anita Shreve
Tricky Business by Dave Barry
The Chinese Have a Word for It by Boye Lafayette De Mente
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
The Zahir by Paulo Coelho
Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult
At the End of the World by Ken Follett

The Book Exchange (now in Vintage Cafe) / The Book Exchange 2 (in Summer Lotus) / The Book Nook (in the Silver Spoon Cafe)

This market has the potential to be a great addition to Kunming. I really hope it works out. They've got a pretty good handle on getting the local crowd involved, but they really could use some help motivating the laowai. Any ideas. Details are below and if you would like to get involved but don't speak Chinese, either contact me or leave some info on this thread...

"This April 29th to May 1st, buy sell or trade handicrafts, homemade foods or second hand goods. The Creative Arts and Food Fair is organized by Corner Studios and sponsored by Paul's Shop, Wheatfield Bookstore and Aling Crafts. It will be held daily from 10am to 7pm each day in Tuanjun Alley between Paul's Shop and As You Like near Yunnan University. If you are interested in participating, you must download the registration via QQ Group #45040716 or contact Aling Crafts at 13518713475."

"天君殿巷 中外创意市集 打造昆明中外创意艺术聚会 可以买卖可以交换 只要你够独特
内容包含：原创装置和插画 原创布艺 手工饰品 旧物交换买卖 美食DIY等
地址：昆明市天君殿巷社区内(麦田书店旁)
时间：2012年4月29日——5月1日 每天早上10点到下午19点
主办：拐角工作室
协办：保利商店 小黑岛 麦田书店 天君殿巷居委会

PS：招纳有才人士加入！请到QQ群：45040716 下载报名表填写报名！
(需要的话报名表也翻译一份英文的呗！附件给你！)"

@colinflahive

You mentioned motivating the laowai. Do you mean the traders or potential customers? And what do you mean by motivation?

Discussing this may help some ideas to surface.