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Cultura was a free Hispanic Heritage Month celebration in Fells Point on September 24, 2026, and it was Colado Latino Network’s first time vending at someone else’s event.
Most first time vendor tips are written for a small business selling product at a craft fair or a farmers market. Ours come from a community table, where a good night is counted in follows, email signups and real conversations before sales.
Six first time vendor tips from our first table
Check them off while you pack for your first table.
We usually host. This time we had a table.
Colado Latino Network is a Baltimore community organization creating spaces where Latino creatives, professionals and business owners find each other. Five co-founders started it in January 2026, and since then we’ve been the ones setting up the room and opening the door.
Before any of it, our co-founder Amy spent years photographing other people’s networking events and kept asking where the one for us was, so we built it.
Where we’ve been
- March 19our first gathering, at Bodega and Vino in Locust Point. We opened 50 tickets and sold out at 60.
- April 25the first Coladito, our small format, at Cafe Los Suenos in Remington.
- May 28our second main event, at The Empanada Lady downtown.
- August 27Colado at Stem and Vine on Charles Street, with The Empanada Lady vending for us.
- September 24Cultura in Fells Point, and our first time on the vendor side.
We’d seen vendor tables from two sides before this. At our first Coladito in April, a little market set up right outside Cafe Los Suenos, and our group got to walk its tables. At Stem & Vine in August, the vendor at our event was Elisa from The Empanada Lady, the same Elisa who hosted us in May. A month later we were the ones behind the table.
The invite to Cultura came about a week before, with Colado Latino Network named as one of the community partners. A week goes fast when you’re figuring out what belongs on a table. We’d hosted four gatherings by then, and we had never worked a booth.
Hosting and vending turn out to be different jobs. When you host, people walk in on purpose, because they came for you. At a table you’re one stop in somebody else’s night, and people decide whether to stop while they’re still walking.
What was Cultura in Fells Point?
Cultura was a free Hispanic Heritage Month celebration on Thursday, September 24, 2026, from 6:00 to 9:30pm. It was set up in the outdoor lot beside The Sound Garden, the independent record shop at 1616 Thames St, next to Saints and Sinners in Fells Point.
The Forest, from Canton, hosted it, and registration was free on Luma. Arepi Venezuelan Eats put out free arepa-style bites with different fillings, and DJ Jason Medina handled the music.
What was on our table
Three items, and each one had a job.
The brochures were the reading part, for anyone who wanted the story of Colado Latino Network to take home. The chalkboard sign said “Follow us on IG @colado.network”, which is the easiest yes a stranger can give you. And the sticker drop was the thing people could buy and keep.
The Colado x Majesty sticker drop
Majesty Reyes is a local Latina artist who posts as @_thecuriouscreative, and she created the three eye-catching designs in the Colado x Majesty sticker drop:
- A plate of empanadas and pupusas with COLADO around the rim
- A greca coffee pot lettered COLADO
- Two crossed Cuban cigars
They were $5 each, in a limited quantity that night. The flyer on our table billed the drop as “Cultura en sticker form.” Majesty was at the table with us, and we got to talk with her about her process.
What should a first time vendor bring besides a flyer?
Besides a flyer, a first time vendor should bring something people can take home or do on the spot: a sticker, a sign that asks for a follow, a signup sheet or a photo spot. Paper on its own is easy to pick up and forget.
On our table, the brochures could be read later, the chalkboard asked for a follow right then, and the stickers were there for anyone who wanted to take a piece of the night home.
Next time we’d add one more thing to do at the table. We’d seen that work at our own first event. At Bodega and Vino in March, people pinned their name, business and industry to a “Meet the Colado Community” board, and it filled up fast.
Bring the flyer. Then bring something people can do on the spot.
The standard vendor advice holds up too. Bring business cards. If you take credit cards, set the card reader where people can see it, and write how to pay right next to the price, so customers never need to ask. A sign at eye level helps more than anything lying flat, since a table sits below most people’s line of sight. If you sell products, that goes double for your display.
Then keep the email signup out until the table comes down. We learned at Bodega and Vino that doors at 6:00 means gente arriving at 6:30 or 6:45, and a three-and-a-half-hour event gives people plenty of time to find you late. An email signup is contact information you can use after the lot is empty.
How do you get people to stop at your table?
People stop at a vendor table when it gives them a reason to, like a clear photo spot, something to take or do, or a person who says hello first.
Most vendor guides file greeting under customer service. At our own gatherings, somebody from our team greets you at the door before anything else happens. A booth needs the same thing. Don’t let the table do the talking. Say hello before someone has to decide whether to walk over.
Door or table, the hello comes first.
The photo spot comes from hosting too. At Stem & Vine in August we set up a second iPad as a photobooth, with a light above it and a mic, and people walked up to record a video about their business. A table can borrow that idea. Foot traffic at an outdoor event keeps moving, so the spot has to be obvious before anyone reaches your table.
Why meet every other vendor in the room?
Every other vendor at an event is a small business, an artist or a community group working the same crowd you are, and trading Instagrams with each of them turns one night into a list of people you can reach again.
We’ve seen what those connections do from the host side. The Empanada Lady and Stem & Vine were working together before we called either of them. Elisa vends there regularly, so when our August gathering needed food, that relationship was already in place.
Every table in the room is somebody you can reach again.
So walk the room. Meet the people at every table, trade social media handles, and follow up the next day. A follow is easier to keep track of than a business card, and it’s a simple way to know what they’re up to next week.
The community piece coming full circle
The day after Cultura we posted this on Instagram:
Yesterday was a first for us: our first time vending at an event, and it reminded us exactly why we do this.
In the same caption we called it “the community piece coming full circle,” and that’s how it felt. We ran into a guest from our Stem & Vine night. Majesty’s stickers went home with our guests at The Empanada Lady in May, and in September her name was on the drop and she was at our table for it. The caption also thanked The Forest, Arepi and Majesty.
Invited back for October
We’ve been invited back for more in October, and each one gets added to our post on Hispanic Heritage Month in Baltimore. The dates go to the people on our email list first.
Between now and then, look up a business in our Latino business directory, and keep an eye on our page of Latino community events in Baltimore, where every gathering we host goes up. We’re also @colado.network on Instagram, same handle as the chalkboard.
Questions people ask about Cultura and our first table
What are good first time vendor tips for a community event? Good first time vendor tips for a community event are to bring something people can take or do, greet every person who walks up, keep the email signup open all night, meet every other vendor and trade Instagrams, make the price and how to pay obvious, and give people a reason to stop, like a clear photo spot. Colado Latino Network learned all six at its first vendor table, at Cultura in Fells Point in September 2026.
How do you get people to stop at your vendor table? People stop at a vendor table when it gives them a reason to, like a clear photo spot, something to take or do, or someone who says hello before they have to. At Cultura, Colado Latino Network’s table had a chalkboard sign asking for a follow on Instagram and a limited Colado x Majesty sticker drop at $5 each, and a clear photo spot is one of the six lessons the team took home.
What was Cultura in Fells Point? Cultura was a free Hispanic Heritage Month celebration on Thursday, September 24, 2026, from 6:00 to 9:30pm, in the outdoor lot beside The Sound Garden at 1616 Thames St in Fells Point, Baltimore. The Forest in Canton hosted it, and Colado Latino Network was one of its community partners, with a vendor table of its own.
Who designed the Colado x Majesty stickers? Majesty Reyes, a local Latina artist who posts on Instagram as @_thecuriouscreative, designed the Colado x Majesty stickers. The three designs are a greca coffee pot lettered COLADO, a plate of empanadas and pupusas with a COLADO rim, and two crossed Cuban cigars, sold at Cultura for $5 each in a limited quantity.
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