OMG. Yes. Friend Fest returns. Happening on Feb. 22-23, 2025, Friend Fest will featured 275+ makers, artists, artisans, designers & creative small businesses all celebrating best friends, new friends, old friends, "we're just friends", "wanna be more than friends" or whatever!
Located at downtown San José's South Hall at 435 South Market Street, San José, CA 95110. In addition to our large scale friendship inspired vendor marketplace, Friend Fest 2025 will feature lots and lots of special Friend Fest programming and activities, special Friend Fest door giveaways and most importantly, lots and lots of friendship vibes.
Free admission for attendees. Open from 11 AM to 6 PM each day. This venue is indoors. All ages. Service animals only.
Event Details
Event Dates & Times
- Saturday, February 22, 2025: 11 am to 6 pm
- Sunday, February 23, 2025: 11 am to 6 pm
Location:
- South Hall, 435 S. Market Street, San José, CA 95110 (view on Google Maps)
Event Details:
- This event is free admission to attend.
- No outside food & beverage will be allowed into the event.
- Per the venue's rules, strictly only service animals are allowed inside the venue. The venue's security team will ask any non-service animals to be removed from the venue if they encounter any.
Accessibility
- Accessibility parking is available within the on-site parking lot surrounding South Hall as well as in the San José Convention Center Parking Garage located next to South Hall.
- Attendees with accessibility needs should proceed directly to the front entrance of the event, even if there is a line.
Parking
Paid parking lots and garages are available in the neighborhood. Street parking is free on Sundays.
Instructions on How to Apply - PLEASE READ
To successfully submit your application, you must go through the online checkout process. Don't worry about the pick-up / delivery method, just choose whatever. Since this is a digital vendor application, whichever option you choose will not matter.
Instructions
- Fill out the form of this vendor application page.
- Select an option from Booth Type.
- Click "Checkout" or click the shopping cart icon in the top-right corner.
- To successfully submit your application, you must go through the online checkout process (i.e. paying for your booth). Don't worry about the pick-up / delivery method, just choose whatever. Since this is a digital vendor application, whichever option you choose will not matter.
- Our team will send you an admission notification (accepted / waitlisted / rejected) within the stated time (scroll down to the "Notification" section).
FAQ: "I successfully submitted my application and paid the fees. Does this mean I'm automatically confirmed to vend for the event date(s)."
- No. Submitting your application on our website and paying the fees associated with the application simply means that you've successfully applied to the event.
- Once we receive your application (and fees), our team will review your application. You will receive an admission notification (accepted / waitlisted / rejected) within the stated amount of time on the vendor application page. If your application is accepted, you're all set. If your application is rejected, we will fully refund your fees. If your application is waitlisted, you will have the option of staying on the waitlist OR withdrawing your application and receiving a full refund of your fees.
- What do we review? For every applicant, we will review your website (if any), Instagram (if any) and any additional content you shared with us about your work (photos, descriptions). Additionally, if you've done events with us before, we will take into consideration our past experiences with having you vend at our event(s). Please note that if you do NOT include a website or Instagram in your application, you should email us at events@sanjosemade.com with photos of your work and a description of your work and your business. Without this content, we will be unable to review your application
- Why do we jury applications? Our goal in jurying applications is to ensure that the vendors who participate in our events are good fits for the event and, therefore, are positioned for success in both sales and customer engagement. If your application is not accepted, this does not mean we don't like your work. It also does not mean that future applications from you will not be accepted. We have had many, many, many vendor applicants whose application was rejected for one event, go on to do many events with us beyond that. Additionally, we jury applications so that we can achieve a healthy balance to the diversity of product types offered at an event (i.e. not having too much of a product type represented at the event).
Admissions Notification
- The Vendor Application Deadline is Dec. 1, 2024. All applications submitted before this date will receive a vendor application status notification (via email) on Dec. 1, 2024. This status notification will share whether or not the applicant's application has been accepted / rejected / waitlisted.
- Depending on the number of applications waitlisted during this application jurying window, we may or may not open a vendor application waitlist after Dec. 1, 2024.
- If your application is accepted, you're all set. You'll receive further instructions and information about vending in your application status notification email.
- If your application is waitlisted, you will have the option to remain on the waitlist OR withdraw from the waitlist and receive a full refund of your fee. Your waitlisted application notification will contain additional information to help guide you through the waitlist process.
- If your application is rejected, you will receive a full refund of your fee.
Any questions?
Email us at events@sanjosemade.com. Make sure the subject line is "Friend Fest 2025 - Vendor Inquiry: [INSERT YOUR BUSINESS NAME]".
Notes for Vendors
- Application acceptance is NOT guaranteed for vendors whose applications were accepted for a previous SJMADE event or for the Friend Fest 2025 event. Each year, each application is juried by our application jury regarding of what happened with your application in previous years.
- Booth assignments from previous years is not guaranteed upon acceptance for this year's event (or subsequent years' events). Additionally, we do not take specific booth location requests.
Pricing
Vendor Type
- Non-Food/Drink (+$0). If you do not plan to sell food and/or drink items during the event, please select this option.
- Food/Drink (+$125). If you plan to sell food and/or drink items during the event, please select this option. The overall fee for food/drink vendor applicants INCLUDES your $125 Santa Clara County Health RC1 Low Risk Temporary Food Facility Permit Fee. If what you sell requires a Temporary Food Facility Permit above the RC1 Low Risk permit, we will NOT accept your application to vend (e.g. food that requires on-site preparation and/or cooking). To read more about Temporary Food Facility Permits, view the Santa Clara County's page on them: https://deh.santaclaracounty.gov/food-and-retail/compliance-retail-food-operations/apply-temporary-food-facility-permit. If you are a cooking food booth or food truck, we CANNOT accept your application to vend for this event due to the venue's policy pertaining to outside food/drink vendors.
Booth Type
- Double Booth (20'x10') (+$1,000). This is the largest booth size we offer through the application process. If you're interested in a booth size larger than this, please first email us at events@sanjosemade.com with your business name, website / social media (if available) and a description of what you'd be selling however there is no guarantee that we will be interested in accommodating booths larger than double booths. All double booths come with one of the two booths placed on a corner.
- Full Booth - Corner Location (10'x10') (+$600). If you apply to vend using this option and your application is accepted, you will receive a full 10'x10' booth and you will be placed in a corner booth location.
- Full Booth - Inline Location (10'x10') (+$450). If you apply to vend using this option and your application is accepted, you will receive a full 10'x10' inline booth. Inline = non-corner location.
- If you're a vendor who already knows with whom you want to share a booth with... Please use one of the Full Booth options described above to apply. You'll only need to apply using a single Full Booth application. When filling out this vendor application, you'll be prompted to include information about your preferred boothmate (business name, name, email, website, Instagram, phone number, CA seller's permit number and any additional info). Please make sure to include your preferred boothmate's information otherwise we will not be able to consider them for the event.
- NOTE: We will not be offering a Shared Booth option for vendors who do NOT have another vendor with whom they would like to share their booth.
Notes: Any vendors who have NOT been officially accepted to vend at Friend Fest 2025 will not be allowed to vend at the event. Booths are non-transferable. If you decide to withdraw from the event, you will not be able to sell or transfer your booth to another vendor. If you sell your booth space to another vendor, both you and the vendor who bought the booth from you will be banned from all future San José Made events.
Additional Vendor Details
- Lighting. For anyone who vended at or attended Friend Fest 2024, the lighting the venue provided felt dim or insufficient in a few locations throughout the venue. After the event, we raised this issue with the venue and refused to do any future events there unless the lighting issues were remedied. Our team did a walkthrough in May 2024 and we are pleased to share that the lighting issues have been resolved (the venue swapped the previous bulbs with newer more modern bulbs with a brighter output).
- Tables & Chairs. Vendors will need to bring their own table(s) and chair(s) though there will be a rentals option for 8' table, 6' tables, table covers and chairs. If vendors would like to rent one or some of these items, they will need to sign up at least one month prior to the event. A link will be shared in the application acceptance email.
- Electricity. If vendors would like access to electricity, they will need to sign up for access to electricity at least two months prior to the event. A link will be shared in the application acceptance email.
- Wifi. We recommend vendors use their mobile data to take transactions OR to use a mobile hotspot. Mobile wifi hotspots are available at the San Jose Public Library for free rentals (https://www.sjpl.org/hotspot-members/). For our event in February 2024, the venue provided free wifi (by accident) so it's unclear whether or not this will be done again. Please prepare as if you will not have access to free wifi.
- Canopies. The use of canopy covers will NOT be permitted. Only the use of the canopy frame itself will be permitted.
- Security Overnight. You will be able to leave your booth setup overnight between Friday and Saturday AND between Saturday and Sunday. As always, we recommend taking home personal valuables and electronics. The venue will be secured overnight (both locked as well as patrolled inside and outside.
Vendor Booth Details
- Vendors will need to bring their own table(s) and chair(s).
- Parking for vendors is available on-site and in the neighborhood (lots, garages, street parking). All parking is paid. Street parking is free on Sundays.
- The use of canopy frames with the canopy covers will NOT be permitted. Only canopy frames may be used. This is an indoor event so shade structures are not necessary.
- We will offer rentals for table, chair and electricity access in December and January.
- The venue provides free wifi. As always, we recommend vendors have their mobile data or a wifi hotspot handy to take transactions in case there are issues with the wifi.
- Friday (Feb. 21) load-in will be offered, likely from 1 PM to 7 PM.
- You will be able to leave your booth setup overnight. As always, we recommend taking home personal valuables and electronics.
Refund Policy
To withdraw your participation from Friend Fest 2025, please email info@sanjosemade.com with the following information:
Business Name
Full Name
Order Number (if possible)
Accepted applicants who notify us via email of their decision to withdraw from the event before or by Jan. 2, 2025 will receive a full refund of their booth fee.
Accepted applicants who notify us via email of their decision to withdraw from the event between Jan. 3 and Jan. 23, 2025 will receive a 50% refund of their booth fee.
Accepted applicants who notify us via email of their decision to withdraw from the event after Jan. 23, 2025 will not be eligible for any refund of their booth fee.
Applicants whose application is rejected will receive a full refund of their booth fee.
Applicants whose application is waitlisted will receive a full refund of their booth fee if they decided to withdraw from the waitlist.
Terms
- SAFETY: Participant will act with the highest regard for the safety of the attendees and other participants of the Event, and will adhere to all laws, policies, rules, and regulations applicable to the goods and/or activities of Participant, including obtaining all licenses, permits, and approvals that may be required to enable Participant to conduct its activities at the Event and fulfill its obligations under this Agreement.
- LIABILITY: San José Made will not be responsible for any loss or damage to Participant’s property, injury to, or death of the Participant (or its agents, employees, and/or personnel), or Participant sales. Participant expressly assumes all risks of loss, damage, liability, injury, or destruction resulting from any cause whatsoever, including but not limited to acts or omissions by Participant, and hereby releases and waives any claims against San José Made related to such loss, damage, liability, injury, and/or destruction.
- INSURANCE: Participant represents that it has, or will have at the time of the Event, appropriate insurance to cover liability for the types of activities Participant will conduct at the Event. Participant covenants to be fully responsible for any of its liabilities, actions, or omissions, and will indemnify, defend, and hold San José Made (and its officers, employees, agents, vendors, affiliates, and representatives) harmless against any claims related to Participant’s liabilities, actions, or omissions.
Vendor Code of Conduct
- View the 2024-2025 Vendor Code of Conduct
- By applying to and being accepted to our events, each vendor is agreeing to adhere to the 2024-2025 Vendor Code of Conduct.
- We are asking everyone to read this document before participating in any SJMADE events this year and to try their best to adhere to the following vendor code of conduct. Failure to do so may negatively affect the jurying of a vendor's future applications to our events. Egregious flouting of the vendor code of conduct may result in a vendor's removal from the event in question.
- We will exhaust every opportunity to avoid these situations (because we love having yall at our events!) however as our events have grown, it's become clear that we need to define our expectations for the participating vendors at our events and how they exist within an event's community of vendors. If you believe you'll be unable to adhere to this code of conduct, please let us know and we can discuss.
Scam Alert
Please feel free to share with any of your fellow vendors or vendor communities. We have seen a reported increase of instances on Facebook and Instagram of people attempting to scam prospective vendors by purporting to be "selling" the last few vendor spaces for our previous events (SJMADE Fest 2024, SJMADE Summer Fair 2024).
In many of these cases, the scammer asks for payment via PayPal, Venmo, Zelle or some other form of digital payment after filling out a Google Form. Please note that these people (i.e. the scammers) are not associated with San José Made in any way.
We never sell vendor spaces through social media direct messages or even text messages for that matter. We only sell vendor spaces through our official website (sanjosemade.com).
If you ever encounter communication online from a non-SJMADE account purporting to be associated with SJMADE, please feel free to contact us at either events@sanjosemade.com or info@sanjosemade.com. We would be happy to verify for you whether or not the communication you've received has officially come from us.
Please note that we cannot honor any vendor booth spaces that were purchased through channels that were not ours.