ATAG craft village hosts Pre-Christmas bazaar
The 21st edition of the ATAG pre-Christmas bazaar was held at the ATAG Craft Village, Pavilion “X”, at the Trade Fair Centre in Accra on November 21, 2015.
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The pre-Christmas craft bazaar, which started in 1994, serves as a forum where both Ghanaians and the expatriate community are introduced to and encouraged to use made-in-Ghana, items especially during the yuletide.
The side attractions for this year’s bazaar included an exhibition on the theme “Souvenirs from Ghana: Dolls and All (everything you know a souvenir should be)”, a cultural display and live band. The regular sponsor, Prudential Bank, was the main sponsor of the programme.
Visitors have described the bazaar as well organised, well patronised and attended.
For so long, the ATAG pre-Christmas bazaar was the only one of its kind until about four years ago when others joined in.
Such bazaars are being organised at the Lincoln school, the Goethe Institut, the Afrikiko, the Alliance Francaise and other smaller sales and fashion bazaars.
The proliferation of the bazaars is certainly an indication that it is a good exercise and must be supported and encouraged.
Uniqueness of bazaar
The uniqueness of ATAG Pre-Christmas Bazaar, however, is the fact that it is the only bazaar that insists on showcasing mainly Made-in-Ghana craft items.
ATAG ensures that not more than five per cent of the total number of vendors would showcase non-Ghanaian but African craft items.
The bazaar provided a platform for networking among producers, suppliers of raw materials and customers and consumers .
Made-In-Ghana goods are vigorously promoted as an effort to support the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts , as well as the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s drive to use made-in-Ghana goods and services.
The bazaar always offers a period for relaxation and puts participants into the Christmas mood.
The organisation of this year’s event by the staff of ATAG was quite comprehensive as slots or allotted tables for participants were nicely arranged and tagged the previous night.
Only eight tables were fed into a double canopy space to allow enough room for movement and display, two mobile toilets were provided (gratis from Honeypot Ltd).
Several trash bins were placed at vantage points and directional signs within the Trade Fair Centre were also put up. The band (cultural show and live band) were also on time.
ATAG sent out a total of about 200 invitation cards, especially, to the expatriate community (High Commissions, Embassies, International schools and other foreign missions). About 6,000 flyers were sent out and 12 banners hanged.
A minute’s silence in rememberance of Auntie Sena Gabienu, Board Chair of ATAG, preceded the opening of the programme. Madam Sena passed on exactly a week earlier, following a sudden stroke attack. Madam Sena was very instrumental in the choice of this year’s exhibition theme.
The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Madam Dzifa Gomashie, who was the special guest of honour, lauded the organisers for the good organisation and encouraged the visitors to patronise the made-in-Ghana goods.
Her words of encouragement charged the atmosphere for a great event.
Sales
The idea for this year’s set up was to limit the number of participants/exhibitors and so was a bit different from the previous years. A long stretch of canopies extending from one end to the other on the ‘Bush Road’ allowed a lot of space for movement and display of wares. In all a total of 65 companies displayed and sold their wares.
Before eight o’clock in the morning, many of the participating vendors had set up their stands and were already selling. Before noon, many of them had made quite good sales.
Many of the participants were very happy with their sales and hinted that they had done better than the previous year, an indication that it gets better year after year.
Attendances taken at a two-hourly interval of the programme averaged 185 adults and six children. At peak hours, attendance was 256 visitors ( including children) and the low period attendance was 172.
One very outstanding occurrence though, for this year’s bazaar was the consistent flow of traffic throughout the day without that marked and sharp drop in attendance during the afternoon. More than 90 per cent of visitors were expatriates
General impressions
Some visitors expressed satisfaction with the variety and quality of items on display at the bazaar. Besides, they said, the pricing was moderate.
The visitors hinted that ATAG bazaar showcased handicrafts from Ghana as against other bazaars where items from all over the globe were shown.
The unanimous response from participants was that the bazaar was good in terms of attendance and sales, and many of them had promised their participation next year (2016).
Suggestions
Some of the visitors suggested that carpet should be extended to allow people to dance to the music, while others also requested the arrangement for use of toilet facility close by and not mobile toilets.
There as also a call for arrangements and advertising to commence early so that more people would be aware of the event so as to plan to attend.
Scope of advertisement should also be broaden to reach the Ghanaian community. This can also be achieved if the Bazaar is held at the forecourt (car park) of the Trade Fair so Ghanaians passing by can see and attend.