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Apply to Vend - Friend Fest 2026

Apply to Vend - Friend Fest 2026

by San José Made
Sold out
$450.00

This event's application has closed as of November 9th. We will not be accepting any late applications.

For those who applied before the deadline, we're running a bit behind schedule for admissions. Notifications will come out within the next few days.

If you’d like to receive vendor application notifications for future events, you can subscribe to our Linktree https://linktr.ee/SJMADE?subscribe  

 

OMG! OK! YES! LET'S GO! Friend Fest returns in 2026. Happening on Feb. 21-22, 2026, Friend Fest will feature 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 2026 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 21, 2026: 11 am to 6 pm
  • Sunday, February 22, 2026: 11 am to 6 pm

Location:

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. 

  

Does your work qualify for Friend Fest 2026?

For any SJMADE events, we do NOT consider applications where: 

  • The applicant appears to be reselling mass manufactured goods (e.g. reselling items purchased from Amazon, Temu, AliExpress, etc.).
  • The applicant appears to be associated with a large corporate business or appears to want to promote a large corporate business. 
  • The applicant appears to be promoting a business that cannot be considered to be involved in a creative or artistic discipline. 
  • The applicant appears to be using AI to create the artwork featured in their products.
  • The applicant appears to be wanting to sell alcohol, drugs and/or weapons

If your application can be considered to be one (or more) of the above five items, your application will be rejected and your booth fee will be refunded according to our Refund Policy for this event (scroll down below).

For this event, we will NOT be accepting any food/drink vendors whose products cannot qualify for a Santa Clara County RC1 Temporary Food Facility (TFF) Permit. This means we will not be accepting any food vendors who need to prepare and/or cook their food on-site. If you have any questions about this, please email us at events@sanjosemade.com. If your application is to sell food that needs to be prepared and/or cooked on-site, your application will be rejected and your booth fee will be refunded according to our Refund Policy for this event (scroll down below).

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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 our 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 Nov. 9, 2025. All applications submitted before this date will receive a vendor application status notification (via email) by Nov. 14, 2025. This status notification will share whether or not the applicant's application has been accepted / rejected / waitlisted.
    • For those who applied before the deadline, we're running a bit behind schedule for admissions. Notifications will come out within the next few days.
  • 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 refund of your fee per the Refund Policy for the event (scroll down below).

Any questions?

Email us at events@sanjosemade.com. Make sure the subject line is "Friend Fest 2026 - 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 previous Friend Fest events. Each year, each application is juried by our application jury regardless 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 (+$128). 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 $128 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://cpd.sccgov.org/programs-and-services/temporary-events. 

Booth Type

  • Double Booth (20'x10') (+$1,050). 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 select the Full Booth option 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. 

Any vendors who have NOT been officially accepted to vend at Friend Fest 2026 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

  • Tables & Chairs. Vendors will need to bring their own table(s) and chair(s). If you need to rent a table(s) and/or chair(s), we will provide a vendor rentals link in your acceptance email which you can use to order your rentals for the event.
  • Electricity. If you need to rent access to electricity for the event, we will provide a vendor rentals link in your acceptance email which you can use to order your rentals for the event.
  • Wifi. We recommend vendors use their mobile data OR a mobile hotspot to take transactions. Mobile wifi hotspots are available for free at some public libraries. There is no on-site wifi available.
  • Load-in. We will offer early load-in on Friday, February 20 from 1 PM to 7 PM. Load-in on Saturday, February 21 will occur between 7 AM and 10:30 AM. There is a parking lot surrounding the venue, making it convenient for vendors to cart or carry their items from their parked vehicle. 
  • Load-out. Load-out will begin at 6 PM on Sunday, February 22. There is a parking lot surrounding the venue, making it convenient for vendors to cart or carry their items from their booth space inside the venue to their parked vehicle.

 

Refund Policy

If your application is accepted BUT you need to withdraw your participation from Friend Fest 2026, please email events@sanjosemade.com and include your business name, full name and, if possible, order number.

Refund Deadline: Jan. 2, 2026

  • If you withdraw from the event anytime before Jan. 2, 2026 you will receive a full refund on your booth fee.
  • If you withdraw from the event anytime between Jan. 3, 2026 and Jan. 22, 2026, you will receive a 50% refund on your booth fee. 
  • If you withdraw from the event anytime after Jan. 23, 2026, you will not be eligible any refund on your booth fee.

Refund Terms for Rejected Applications

If your application to vend is NOT accepted, we will process a 100% refund of your booth fee upon sending you the notification email EXCEPT in instances where the application: 

  • Is a duplicate application (i.e. a vendor applies multiple times for the same event)
  • Is incomplete or fails to provide sufficient information for our team to jury the applicant. One example of this would be an application that is missing a website link AND the applicant has not emailed us their product photos before the application deadline. Another example of this would be an application that includes only erroneous website or Instagram links–either broken links or links to pages that do not represent your work and/or your business. 
  • Does not qualify for consideration for the event being applied to. Please see the "Does your work qualify for Friend Fest 2026?" section on this page (scroll up).

If any of the above applies to your application, we will retain 3% of your booth fee and refund you the remaining 97%. If none of the above applies to your application, we will refund you the full 100%. 

 

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 Vendor Code of Conduct
  • By applying to and being accepted to our events, each vendor is agreeing to adhere to the 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 y'all at our events!); however as our events have grown, it's become clear that we need to more clearly 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.

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. (Depending on the event, we may also send communications from our parent company, Moveable, with an @mvbl.co email address.)

Please note that we cannot honor any vendor booth spaces that were purchased through channels that were not ours.