Faced with rebranding the event and hosting it in a new venue, the students employed a guerrilla-style marketing campaign to spread the word and as a result, the retail venture was a big success.

Pop-Up Presents Lakeland's Hidden Creations invited shoppers to Spurs for the opportunity to browse wares procured from local vendors and artisans, all in keeping with the rustic theme. They could also pick up some items celebrating 30 years of the Student-Managed Farm - Powered By New Holland and agribusiness apparel. Though the exact total raised by the student-led enterprise is still being calculated, over 280 people made purchases. Emma Robb, one of the student leaders of the project, is pleased with the success of the event.

“We wanted to revamp it and bring a new style to the event,” she says. “We made sure the vendors were carefully selected to match with our rustic vibe. Despite it being in a smaller location, we wanted to invite people to stay, whether playing pool or getting a drink from the bar or the café.”

Hosting the event at Spurs presented its own challenges, with less space than past venues, and organizers also worried that it would be harder for the public to find. Another challenge that came up in the week before the event was a shared concern that the public was not as aware of the event as the organizers would have liked.

“In that last week, we all became marketers,” Robb says. “We were walking around dressed like presents, we had cupcakes, we were around town at the Red Brick Café and Co-op. It was all hands on deck. We used guerrilla marketing ideas to make sure the event really stuck in people's minds.”

Despite the challenges faced by rebranding the event and the new venue, in the end, Robb is pleased at how it came together.

“It was an awesome two days,” she says. “The biggest challenge was getting all the ends tied together and making sure all the groups organizing it were working together. Everyone worked really, really hard and it all worked out so well.”

Photos: (Top) Shoppers browse a carefully-curated selection of locally-made goods. (Bottom) Emma Robb, one of the student organizers of the event, with three young shoppers.