#VermilionOnline will be coming back for a second and third round after a strong first showing.
The online festival, hosted by the town, ZenSeekers and SeekersMedia showcases Vermilion businesses through videos and interactive elements hosted on the town’s social media pages. During their first run on April 22nd, they say the videos accumulated tens of thousands of views and social media engagements.
ZenSeekers Founder Jim Barr says he saw some businesses have a large revenue bump because of the festival.
“It’s really encouraging when you hear ‘Uniquely U,’ who was part of this, had a 50 per cent lift in their business just in the last week and still doing really well. That’s really encouraging, we’re really excited about that.”
Businesses such as Hubkins’ Restaurant say they saw hundreds more dollars in take-out orders come in after they posted a live smoker demonstration. As a response to the success of the first run, the second #VermilionOnline festival will happen on April 29th, and then the third on May 6th.
Barr says there will be seven all-new businesses featured, and believes this #VermilionOnline will continue the trend.
“We’re at home, we’re looking at screens. So there’s definitely a captive market. That certainly helps, while at the same time I think people are just looking for some good news, just looking for some cool stuff. How cool is it to have a collection of businesses taking you on a tour of their experience?”
This week’s #VermilionOnline festival will begin on the Town of Vermilion’s Facebook page.Â