Joint Farragut Business Alliance-FWKCC venture
What’s Out West: Pop-Up Biz Expo set
Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce and Shop Farragut/Farragut Business Alliance are partnering to offer the inaugural What’s Out West: A Pop-Up Business EXPO to introduce the community to its businesses.
The event, which is open to the public, is slated from 3 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 20, in the former Stein Mart building, 11437 Kingston Pike, in Village Green shopping center. General admission ticket prices are $5 in advance or $10 at the door.
“This event will happen rain or shine because we’ll be popping up inside the former location of Stein Mart,” said Julie Blaylock, FWKCC CEO/president. “We want as many people as possible to come out and mingle, network and meet the many businesses who make up our Farragut West Knox community.”
“We’ve been looking forward to it for a long time, trying to show a unified face to the business community that we’re all in this together … make a better business atmosphere out here in West Knox County,” Shop Farragut executive director Steve Krempasky said.
“We’ve made it a priority to partner more with neighboring organizations in recent years, and so this opportunity was one that really excited us,” Blaylock said. “Literally speaking, we want to show everyone ‘What’s Out West.’
“We can’t wait to see what kind of event we can put together with the power of both our organizations behind it,” she added.
The two organizations currently are seeking sponsors and booth vendors. As sponsors, businesses could get “great promotion leading up to and after the event,” she added.
TDS Telecom, Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union and Water 2 Wine bistro & lounge already are leading the way as presenting sponsors.
“TDS is thrilled to be partnering with the Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce and the Farragut Business Alliance to support the What’s Out West Business Expo,” said Lyn McGee, TDS Telecom field marketing manager. “As a local service provider, we couldn’t be more pleased to be the presenting sponsor for the inaugural Business Expo.
“This will be a wonderful opportunity for the community to come out and support area businesses,” McGee added.
To sponsor the expo or to have a booth, call 865-675-7057, e-mail to info@farragutchamber.com or visit online at farragutchamber.com
Booths can be reserved and paid for online using the Chamber’s register link. Booth fees are $150 per booth.
“All businesses can get a 5 percent early-bird discount if your application and payment is received by March 10 ($142.50 due),” Blaylock stated. “Farragut West Knox Chamber members can get an additional 10 percent discount stacked with the early-bird discount through March 10 ($127.50 due) or by itself from March 11-April 10 ($135 due).
“All applications with payment must be received by April 10,” she added.
This is not the first time FWKCC and Shop Farragut have collaborated on events.
FWKCC “had a booth at an earlier Farragut Food & Wine Festival,” Krempasky recalled. “And, I join them on the (Independence Day) holiday parade.”
Additionally, he said Shop Farragut has always been a member of the Chamber.
“We’ve sort of rubbed elbows together all along,” Krempasky added. “We had been talking about doing something along these lines, kept going back with different ideas and there was never really a place to host it to the extent we really wanted to get involved.”
“One concern we had was whether our staff had the capacity to put together such an involved event of this scale on top of our already very busy programs schedule at this time,” Blaylock said. “Shop Farragut had recently put together several industry-specific showcases, so when they approached us about doing an all-out expo together, it was easy to say ‘yes’ to the idea.”
“Then this opportunity … a space as large as Stein Mart was available, it just made sense to move forward with it,” Krempasky said.
