12/15/2025
Central Occasion Events
Review of the Candy Cane Christmas Market at Mill Woods Town Center on Dec 13 & 14 2025.
Beyond disappointed with this market as a vendor. Utterly abysmal turn out and it was heartbreaking to hear fellow vendor after vendor say how they were losing money doing the market and unable to sell enough to cover the market costs.
I was unable to find any advertising about the market outside of Facebook and the mill woods town center website didn't even have the market listed as an event. It didn't seem like many people entering the mall were even aware there was a market this weekend. Market was absolutely not worth the table cost. We also were told that at 10am on Sunday - an hour before the mall stores open- would have lots of people at the mall. That felt like a complete lie and I did not see any vendors make a sale because there were barely any people there. Facebook cannot be the only place you advertise the market. Over 8 years of doing markets and this was the second worst one I've ever done.
I'd be curious to know how much money Tracy, the market manager, made and how many of the vendors were actually able to pay off their table and expenses. We put our trust and money in the market managers hand, they get to walk away with a profit regardless of how well the vendors do, and even if none of us do another market with her, there will always be other desperate small businesses who will give markets money, so I'm not sure there is much motivation for the market manager to change or improve.
I did not feel set up for success and would not recommend markets by Central Occasion Events. Lack of advertising and lack of accountability over the poor turnout has eroded all trust.
