General Commercial/Art/Craft/Non-Profit Vendors Applications

Welcome to the 37th Annual Florida Manatee Festival!! The Florida Manatee Festival is a two-day festival, held annually over Martin Luther King Jr weekend. Join the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce, the City of Crystal River, and over 300 artists, crafters, food vendors, and live entertainment as we bring the 37th Annual Florida Manatee Festival to Crystal River, Florida!
 
Saturday, January 13, 2023 -  9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
Sunday, January 14, 2023 -  9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
 
Vendor Setup/Check-In: Only Friday, January 12th from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. 
Vendor Tear Down: Sunday, January 14th at 4 p.m.
 

January 13th & 14th, 2024 | Downtown Crystal River Produced by the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce | The Florida Manatee Festival returns on January 13th & 14th, 2024. Come join the celebration in downtown Crystal River as we honor our most famous residents! Now in our 37th year, the Florida Manatee Festival is presented by the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce. Celebrating with food, music, entertainment, and frivolity for residents and visitors alike. The Florida Manatee Festival also serves as a showcase for non-profit organizations and local commercial businesses that serve as the foundation of our community. Over 20,000 people each year flock to Historic Downtown Crystal River, making The Florida Manatee Festival consistently chosen one of the Best of the Best Festivals by the readers of the Citrus County Chronicle. This year's festival will include, but certainly not limited to: Manatee Boat Tours Live entertainment- 2 different stages Beer & wine garden Amazing storefront businesses Food vendors throughout the festival. Heritage House Hippie Village Children's Activity Zones And MUCH MORE!!!!

 
 
Please pay close attention while completing the application to the spacing/price and category section of the application. There is ONE application for all crafters, artists, and Commercial/General Vendors. Category/pricing is listed below. Terms/Conditions apply to ALL applicants.
 
Arts and Crafts: Defined as works made by hand or with the use of simple tools, showing imagination and the mark of the crafts person’s individuality; your skill or craft applied to the product and must contain at least 50% original work that defines it as unique. All arts/crafts displayed/sold at artists/crafters booth must be substantively produced by the hands. Cottage foods and/or farm fresh, farm-to-table items are approved for the art/craft category. (For example, Candied jalapenos or homemade beef jerky are acceptable). Two-dimensional art such as paintings, prints, or photographs Mixed media work that uses paint and canvas as its primary medium Books, written and/or illustrated by the artist/crafter. Commercial, General Vendor, Business: Mold-made, work that has been made with commercial kits, purchased molds, patterns, plans or prefabricated pieces. Commercially manufactured artwork assembled (wholly or in part) from commercially available kits Screen-printed material Dried or silk flower arrangements Apparel (not handmade) including but not limited to retail hats, retail clothing, Direct Marketing Clothing and/or accessories; Embellished commercially made objects (such as T-shirts, hats, sunglasses, note cards, etc.) Direct Marketing/Direct Sales: PLEASE NOTE, if you are a vendor representing a direct marketing and/or direct sales company (i.e., Color Street Nails, Paparazzi, Pampered Chef, etc.) it is your responsibility to notify in the application that you are a representative of said Direct Marketing/Sales. The Chamber Staff cannot be responsible for knowing the rules/regulations of the Direct Sales/Marketing company for which you represent. If the company states no more than one on-site, please be sure you note this information in your application. Please place under Special Requests. If a vendor does not provide such information, and there were to be an oversight weekend of the event, the Chamber staff will not be held responsible. Please be sure to provide as much information as possible regarding your direct sales/marketing product. Non-Profit: Vendor space available to 501C3 organizations. One of the following is required to submit with the application: Letter of 501C3 certification; IRS Letter of Determination; Florida Sales Tax Exemption Letter
Hippie Village in Heritage Village/N Citrus: As always, Hippie Village will have a myriad of our vendors, food vendors, artists, and crafters. Pricing will remain the same in the Hippie Village. However, there will not be a specific price/category for Hippie Village. PLEASE REQUEST, in the application below (question #8) if you wish to be in Hippie Village/N Citrus Avenue. Special Requests are not a guarantee, but the Chamber of Commerce does try to be fair and equitable to all registrants.
 
 
 
Terms and Conditions:
 
The Citrus County Chamber of Commerce thanks you for your interest in the 37th Florida Manatee Festival 2024. Please carefully read the following rules necessary for vendors to participate in the event. 
 
Submitting this application does not guarantee booth space at the Florida Manatee Festival. ALL applications will be reviewed for approval. You will be notified by email as quickly as possible upon approval of your application. Please remember that your credit card is charged upon approval of the application.
 
Selection/approval is at the sole discretion of the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce. The Citrus County Chamber of Commerce retains the right to reject any vendor application. All applications must be submitted by December 22, 2023.
 
1. Booth space is sold as 10' L x 10' W. No discount on multiple and/or additional booth spaces. 
2. Electricity is not available for purchase at this event. If you require electricity, you must use a quiet generator. 3. Space assignments are made based on the best interest of the event. There are no guarantees/promises given to vendors as to assigned locations. This application neither implies nor grants any preferential consideration or treatment.
4. Vendors MAY NOT sublet, bring in the representation of a secondary commercial or charity to jointly work a vendor booth, switch product lines of what's been approved, or change the name of what's been approved to be posted to identify the vendor.
5. Event will be held rain or shine. This is an outdoor event with possible uneven terrain, inclement weather, and wind gusts. Please provide proper weights for the corners of your tent. NO STAKES permitted. Proper weights include but are not limited to water buckets, cinderblocks, and sandbags. The Citrus County Chamber of Commerce is not liable for any damage incurred to vendor booths/products during festival hours and/or setup/breakdown.
6. Vehicles (cars, trucks, trailers, golf carts) are not part of vendor space. Vehicles must enter at check-in, receive the assigned space/vendor map, and drop off/load in as quickly as possible. No vehicle will be permitted to remain parked at their assigned space during load-in/set up. Please remember, there will be other vendors needing to load in as well, please be courteous, and move quickly and safely.
7. Vendors MUST be set up and ready to open for business by 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning. No vendor will be permitted to load in on Saturday, January 13th after 8:30 am. Check-in will only be on Friday, January 12th. NO CHECK IN ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 13TH.
8. All vendors are required to be set up and operating Saturday & Sunday. This is a two-day event, rain, or shine. There will be no exceptions, must be set up by 8:30 am on Saturday, January 13th. Break-down/load-out will begin at 4 pm Sunday the 14th.
9. All vendor tents must be a solid, non-flammable, free-standing tent in good condition, without tears or stains, and securely weighed down. Tents must have the ability to withstand strong winds. Tents larger than 10x10 must provide a fire inspection, and fire retardant (stamp, letter).
10. All vendors are responsible for providing their own supplies needed to operate including, but not limited to, tents, tables, chairs, trash receptacles, trash bags, lighting, weights, etc.
11. No smoking / vaping in the vendor space. Please move away from your vendor space and/or food truck to a smoking area.
12. Vendors are required to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner when dealing with festival volunteers/staff, festival attendees, fellow vendors, and established downtown businesses. There is a strict no-tolerance policy regarding foul language, threatening or physically abusive behavior, disregard for the safety and/or property of those around you, or any other behavior that the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce deems unsafe or inappropriate. NON-COMPLIANT vendors will be asked to immediately shut down their location and be removed from the event (safely at the end of the evening). NON-COMPLIANT vendors will not be invited to return to any Citrus County Chamber of Commerce festivals, parades, and/or special events.
13. Booth space must remain clean throughout the weekend. Keep extra inventory, boxes, trash, etc. out of the display area. Vendors must dispose of all trash in one of the event dumpsters. Booth space must be left clean daily; no trash, trash bags, empty boxes or debris may be left behind. Non-compliant vendors are subject to additional clean-up fees and will not be permitted to participate in future Chamber festivals, parades, and/or special events.
14. Vendor identification signs are restricted to 18" high and shall be no longer than the width of the tent.
15. Absolutely no materials that link to, show, or infer sexual content, conduct, or encourage illegal or unethical activity. No lewd, lascivious, and/or slanderous materials against any one race, religion, ethnicity and/or political views. NON-COMPLIANT vendors will be asked to immediately shut down their location and be removed from the event (safely at the end of the evening). NON-COMPLIANT vendors will not be invited to return to any Citrus County Chamber of Commerce festivals, parades and/or special events.
16. Vendor booth/ products will resemble the photo depictions submitted with the application both in quality and appearance.
17. Vendors will receive detailed vendor information, including a placement map, check-in time/location of check-in by Thursday, January 11th, 2024., via EventEny email portal. If vendors do not show up during their outlined check-in timeframe, they will be required to wait until all other vendors have finished checking in. NO CHECK IN ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 13TH.  
18. Vendors will be responsible to fully comply with the Florida State Sales Tax Regulations in effect during the period of the event.
19. Event vendor withdrawal requests must be submitted in writing/email no later than 30 days prior to the event. Refunds will not be given unless notification is submitted no later than 30 days prior. Refunds will be at the Chamber's discretion. There are no refunds for vendors who do not show up/set up for the festival.
20. The Citrus County Chamber of Commerce reserves the right to cancel the event in total/ in part. All aspects of the event are subject to modification. We reserve the right to alter the layout and/or move vendors as needed.