By Steve Hubrecht
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The second edition of #BuyBasin Festival has been running for a couple of weeks now, and with a couple more weeks to go, local businesses taking part in the festival couldn’t be happier with how it’s turned out so far.
The online festival promotes more than 100 local businesses, running live on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, with the aim of helping participating businesses reach new audiences and customers. The first edition of the festival ran this past spring, and its success prompted a second edition, which began on Monday, Oct. 18 and runs until Wednesday, Nov. 10.
Every day the festival features four or five more businesses going live on their Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms. In their videos, the businesses highlight their unique, locally available products and services, and offer giveaways, demos, tips and more. There are also performers, artists, musicians and special guests, in addition to the businesses. Several Columbia Valley businesses went live earlier on in the festival, and several more are set to do so next week.
Kootenay Clothing Company and Kootenay Adventure Collective, both of which are part of the Kootenay Collective, are among those having already gone live, with the Kootenay Clothing Company having done so on Thursday, Oct. 21 and Kootenay Adventure Collective having done so three days before that, on the festival’s opening day.
“It was a great event. Overall it was quite successful for our business. It helped us gain a lot of followers through our social media platforms,” said Kootenay Adventure Collective owner Patrick Tolchard, adding Kootenay Adventure Collective’s live video garnered 1,900 views, and that the CBT has sent out information packages on how to keep the buzz going, which Tolchard is incorporating into staff training.
Check out Kootenay Adventure Collective’s video at www.facebook.com/adventurekootenay/videos/1313269959076034.
“I hope it continues. It’s a great way to advertise over a huge network at no cost,” he said.
“Going live was a lot of fun,” said Kootenay Clothing Company owner Andrea Tubbs, who had never gone live on a social media platform prior to the #BuyBasin Festival.
“It’s been a great opportunity to learn about using social media,” said Tubbs.
Watch Kootenay Clothing Company’s live video at www.facebook.com/kootclothingco/videos/402373254672342.
Invermere-based Baby Root Designs is set to go live as part of the festival next Wednesday, Nov. 3, and Baby Root Designs owner Shannon Root can’t wait.
“I’m so excited about it. I went live as part of the festival last spring, and this time is going to be even better,” said Root. “From me, it was fantastic in terms of learning how to use social media to bolster my business.”
Root told the Pioneer that social media barely existed while she was in school, and that until the #BuyBasin Festival, she felt her kids had a better handle on the digital world than she did.
“Social media isn’t something that comes naturally to me, like it does to younger adults and teens. I really have to sit down and learn it, and this (the festival) has really pushed me to do that, helped me better focus my website and has driven sales,” she said. “I feel that now I have all kinds of different skills, and it couldn’t come at a better time, what with the COVID-19 pandemic pushing so much shopping online. As a small business in a small town, you need these digital promotion tools.”
Baby Root Designs offers homemade, handcrafted toques, aprons, blanket and more, for newborns, kids, teens and adults. Root launched the home-based business eight years ago, as a means to be closer to her kids while still working.
Her latest live video promises to give viewers a sneak peek at her home workshop and (as her earlier live video did) will feature her four kids.
“It’s a blast having them in the video,” said Root. “We tried rehearsing last time, but they’re kids, so of course they say something out of left field, and you can’t re-do it because it’s live. That’s what makes it so fun.”
Watch for the live video on www.Facebook.com/babyrootdesigns.
Fairmont-based AshFireWear will be going live as part of the festival on Monday, Nov. 1.
“I was nervous the first time (as part of the spring edition of the festival), and I’ll be nervous this time too. But this time, I do have some products to show everybody, so it should be good,” AshFireWear owner Ashley O’Neil told the Pioneer.
AshFireWear specializes in the design and manufacture of female firefighting clothing that is biodegradable.
“The first live video did boost awareness, and it is a good networking system. A lot more people were interesting in contact me (after the first edition of the festival),” said O’Neil.
Catch the live AshFireWear video at www.facebook.com/ashfirewear-100144741724882.
The festival is a joint effort by the Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) and Festival Seekers and was launched as a response to how the COVID-19 pandemic had hurt local businesses across the Columbia Basin.
The full lineup of participating businesses is at ourtrust.org/grants-and-programs-directory/buybasin-festival/. From here, you can connect to each business or performer’s Facebook or Instagram page and tune in when they go live. If you miss a live video, no problem, simply use the lineup to catch up and to find outstanding local deals.
