The Fair dates back to 1990. It started with a small group of about 20 vendors coming forward to sell their wares. This humble beginning, 15 years ago, created an awareness of the market among small entrepreneurs, and over the years, has grown in strength and popularity, resulting in over a 100 participating exhibitors. Many of these vendors are regular participants at The Fair with quite a few new ones joining every time.

This concept of a bazaar offering such a wide assortment of products in a single venue has found favour not only with local Singaporeans and the expatriate community here, but attracts as many appreciative tourists looking for a one-stop shop of unique products.

The network of vendors comes from, besides Singapore, a range of countries as far as Australia, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Europe. As The Fair’s reputation grows, so do the number of participants from across the globe.

The Fair’s popularity has resulted in much interest by the media and has also been featured on Singapore television and in newspapers and magazines here and abroad.

The Organiser

Chumkie Banerji set up the first fair in 1990, with about 20 participants. She reveals her reason for doing so was: “I found there were so many women who had so much to offer, some things they create, others they design or source from different countries. A large segment of these are expatriate housewives currently stationed in Singapore – their countries of origin being as diverse as Australia from USA, and China from France. The Fair provides them to market their products.”

Starting out almost 15 years ago with just a single fair the first year, progressively over the years, as the demand increased so did the frequency. Now The Fair is repeated six times in a calendar year.

Chumkie’s regular participants come from Singapore as well as neighbouring countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and even Australia and India. “They find an opportunity to show their merchandise to a very large audience. And besides selling these items they also have an opportunity to network and strike deals for future ventures of their own,” she says.

The “large captive audience” is an impressive 2000 visitors over the two-day period, most of whom are ‘regulars’. Walk-in visitors are mainly the guests staying at the host hotel, Grand Hyatt Singapore, and tourists.

“Awareness about The Fair”, reveals Chumkie, “is created through extensive advertising done in the English and local language media, as well as expat magazines, clubs’ newsletters and direct mailing, and distribution of unlimited flyers. One of the major attractions for visitors to The Fair is the temptation of lucky draw gifts from sponsors, which include carpets, tribal rugs, wine bottles, coffee table books, dinner vouchers and spa sessions. And the unanimous verdict from the participants is – that the exposure is fantastic,” smiles Chumkie.