Dear Editor,
Attention budding entrepreneurs: the Open Fair is on its way to your area. This is a national movement of free, community-based talent exchanges, uniting people who have skills to offer with people who are in need of those skills.
The Open (One Person Enterprise ) Fair concept originated in the early 1990s with Rural Resettlement Ireland, a registered charity, and was run successfully in several counties around the country. It is now being revived and broadened as a counterbalance against the current recession.
Open Fairs will be organised in collaboration with the Irish Vocational Education Association and other community groups, in venues such as schools, community halls, hotels etc, and presented free of charge in cities, towns and villages across the country. They will offer communities a chance to discover what services and products originate locally, as well as offering enterprising individuals a showcase for their talents.
You may have abilities or qualifications that people in your community don’t know you have. Perhaps you have a latent talent that you’ve always wanted to cultivate. The Open Fair can be your first step towards self-employment. It is aimed at everyone from graphic designers to biscuit bakers, musicians to tax advisers, wood turners to surfing instructors. There is no charge to display your work and you keep any money you make.
Open Fair is grateful for the support of RTÉ broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan and Independent Senator Feargal Quinn, both of whom have agreed to help promote the movement.
Our website is now under construction and literature will be published shortly. In the meantime, if you would like to prepare to exhibit, or help organise an Open Fair in your area, you can contact Eithne at the address below for further information.
Secretary,
Open Fair
Kilbaha, Kilrush, Co Clare.
Phone: 065 905 8034.
Fax: 065 905 5242.
Email: [email protected]
