The Making of A Gluten-Free Fair

The ideas rolling around in my head for this fair are exciting and intimidating! In all honesty though, I look forward to the outcome. It's going to be wonderful to see the impact not only within the Celiac community, but also within Solano County.

It's the beginning of March and so far I have done the following to prepare for the October 10th, 2010 fair:

1) Secured the location - The Inn at Benicia Bay has provided their beautiful outdoor facility for our event.

2) Spoken with the city of Benicia about closing down East D Street. Apparently we'll have to work up to that one. Insurance for a street closure is not cheap! Luckily the CDF does provide event insurance, something that any future support group leader should verify when putting on such an event.

3) Requested the assistance from one very well-known event planner in the Bay Area. More to come on that!

4) Requested volunteer assistance. So far have two volunteers for the day of the event. Yay!

5) Spoke with the amazing Phyllis Kessler who successfully hosted her 3rd gluten-free fair, attracting 1600 people!! Now there's a goal I look forward to!

At this point in time, my finished list is much shorter than my to-do list. I'm not concerned though! I'm sure everything will fall into place with a little elbow grease and positive thinking.

One thing I am learning, if you put something out there, the right people will be put in your path to help you along the way.

Check back for more details and if you're interested in volunteering, please contact Crystal:

solanocountyceliacs@gmail.com