The Lilith Fair village features a variety of vendors, selling such items as jewelry, CD's, clothing, and stickers. Some are selling merchandise related to Lilith Fair, some make their living by going out on various tours, while others are independent artists.
Many of the vendors who have been with other festival tours have found Lilith Fair to be a much more relaxed and enjoyable experience.
"Compared to other tours that I've worked it, the crowds don't steal, they don't holla at you, they don't get drunk and mess up stuff in your booth," says Cynthia Petyk of Hary Dary, who has also toured with Horde, Lollapalooza and others. "And the music is just wonderful."
Hary Dary, which has been around for about 15 years, sells clothing and other merchandise designed by founder Scott. "Everything's an original, one of a kind, no two are exactly alike," explains Cythia.
When asked to compare Lilith with other tours, Dawn Benskin of Mary Janes, Mikio and friends said that "i don't know if you want to put that on the web site!" Mary Janes, Mikio and friends sells clothing, jewelry, stickers, and other items. Dawn, who is travelling with her 3 year old son, went on to day that this tour is much more organized that others.
"All of our concerns have been met, and they've actually wanted to get feedback from us," she says. "Usually, that's not the case. It's like you're there, you pay your money and you show up."
One of their more unusual booths in the village is Damage Control, run by Colleen Wolstenholme. Colleen creates jewelry using anti-depressant pills to create the molds.
"I guess it came out of the fact that I had been prescribed anti-despressents and I just started realizing how many people, women particularly, are prescribed anti-depressents," explains Colleen. "I was prescribed them because I was complaining about not feeling well and the doctor told me I was a hypochondriac and put me on anti-depressants. It turned out that there was actually something wrong with me in the end. So I started doings this, not really as a protest but as a sign of the times, I guess. A lot of people are taking pills, because they're not able to cope with reality. Because reality is so harsh."
Colleen says that she's been getting a mixed reaction from concert goers.
"I've gotten a lot of comments that it's a really good idea and it was really great that I was doing it," she says. "But I found that some people are really insulted by it, some people misunderstand it thinking that I'm trying to encourage it. I'd say it's a pretty mixed back in terms of the reaction."
For people who want to buy music that they hear at the concert, there are Borders and Nettwerk. Jay Clark of the Nettwerk booth says that big sellers have been Sarah McLachlan's "B Sides & Rarities" collection (which was released only in Canada) and the new Delerium disc.
"Everyone's totally friendly, it's like a big family village going on" says Jay in summing up the experience. "Although we don't have enough independent artists and vendors, and hopefully next year we can have more."
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