How Gum Pop works
More markets. More neighborhoods. More ways to grow.
Gum Pop produces 60+ markets and festivals each year across Colorado. Our model is built to give small businesses repeat opportunities to meet customers, not just one or two big weekends a year.
We use consistent systems and train on-site teams so we can operate at this volume while offering different locations, audiences and pricing models.
Built for momentum.
A single market can introduce your business to a new customer. A full calendar can help you build a customer base.
Gum Pop creates opportunities across neighborhood shopping markets, festivals, farmers markets and seasonal events. Each location has a different rhythm, demographic and product mix. Makers can choose the dates and audiences that make sense for their business.
Our scale is intentional. Producing events throughout the year allows us to offer more opportunities, learn from each neighborhood and help businesses find the markets where they fit best.
- 60+
events produced each year
- 500+
small businesses hosted annually
- 400+
events produced since 2014
- $20M+
in local sales since 2014
Historical figures include events produced under Gum Pop Presents, Denver BAZAAR and TheBigWonderful.
Choose the opportunity that fits.
Not every event, audience or pricing structure works for every business. Gum Pop offers different ways to participate so makers can choose the level of commitment and up-front cost that makes sense for them.
Flat-fee markets
One published booth fee with no percentage due after the event. Best for makers who want a predictable cost.
Series pricing
Commit to multiple dates and build familiarity with a recurring neighborhood audience.
Drop-in dates
Choose individual dates without committing to an entire season.
Lower up-front fee + sales percentage
A smaller initial booth fee paired with a percentage of event-day sales. This reduces the up-front commitment and aligns part of the event cost with performance.
The pricing model, booth options and any required percentage are always listed on the individual market page before you apply.
What you can expect from us.
Our job is to build, promote and operate an event that gives participating businesses access to potential customers.
- A permitted and professionally operated event space
- Event planning, production, layout and maker curation
- Marketing designed to reach shoppers who are likely to attend
- A balanced product mix intended to reduce excessive category duplication
- Event-specific information about the neighborhood, audience and product fit
- Multiple locations, event formats and pricing options
- Branded graphics and promotional resources makers can share
- Load-in instructions, maps, parking information and booth assignments before the event
- Trained on-site staff at every event
- An event-day maker hotline for immediate operational needs
- Performance insights informed by confidential sales reporting
Curation is part of how we build each event's maker mix. Reviewing applications for a balanced product mix means shoppers find real variety at a market instead of five booths selling the same thing, and it means makers are not competing directly with several near-identical booths in the same category.
We create the setting, promote the event and operate the market. We cannot guarantee attendance, revenue or profitability.
What we expect from participating makers.
Your booth is your temporary storefront. The businesses that perform best treat it that way.
- A complete, safe and weather-ready booth setup
- Tent weights, tables, chairs, displays and any event-specific equipment
- Enough inventory and staffing for the full event
- Clear pricing and an easy checkout process
- Active, welcoming customer engagement
- A visually engaging display
- Samples, demonstrations or interactive elements when appropriate and permitted
- Promotion to your own audience using the event resources we provide
- Accurate post-event sales reporting
- Professional, respectful and solution-oriented conduct
- Remaining open and sales-ready for the full published event hours
- Compliance with applicable licensing, tax, insurance, health and safety requirements
We bring the market together. You bring your product, your story and the sales experience.
We are louder together.
Gum Pop markets each event through a combination of paid advertising, email, event listings, social media, neighborhood partnerships and public relations.
A market may appear quiet on an organic Instagram feed while paid campaigns are actively reaching potential shoppers near the event. Most neighborhood-market customers do not cross the entire metro area for every event, so we use years of market data to concentrate advertising around the people most likely to attend.
2026 marketing, through October 12
- 1,303,833
paid ad impressions
- 517,318
people reached
- 321,782
shopper emails sent
- 50
paid advertising campaigns
- 165
different ads
- 8,103
shoppers on neighborhood email lists
Ninety-nine percent of paid ad impressions came from campaigns targeted within a maximum radius of ten miles from a market. These figures describe total 2026 paid reach and shopper email activity through October 12. They do not represent attendance or sales at a single event.
Marketing works best when the entire market participates.
We provide branded graphics, event details, suggested language and application links. Please use these materials to tell your customers where you will be. One organizer and dozens of participating brands speaking together will always be louder than any of us speaking alone.
Help make the market louder:
- Share that you are participating
- Tag the event and location
- Use the current event graphics
- Tell customers what you are bringing
- Invite your email list and repeat buyers
- Continue posting during the event when practical
An audience is an opportunity.
Gum Pop works to create reasons for people to attend, stay and shop. Depending on the event, that may include food, beverages, live music, entertainment, neighborhood programming or a market bar.
These features increase dwell time and make shopping a social experience, but the final customer interaction happens inside each maker’s booth.
Our job is to build and promote the opportunity. Your job is to turn that opportunity into relationships and sales.
What we consistently see working:
- Greeting people instead of remaining seated or disengaged
- Making prices immediately visible
- Giving shoppers a reason to stop
- Offering appropriate samples or demonstrations
- Creating an attractive, easy-to-shop display
- Explaining the product story clearly
- Collecting customer emails or follows for future sales
- Bringing products suited to the neighborhood and event type
Pop-up events are different from permanent retail. Weather, competing activities, neighborhood traffic and customer behavior can change from date to date. Staff and makers are expected to approach those variables calmly, professionally and with the shared goal of creating a successful market.
Why we ask for sales data.
We ask every participating business to submit a sales report after each event, including events that do not charge a percentage of sales.
The information helps us understand:
- How different neighborhoods shop
- Which product categories perform well in each location
- Whether the event hours and format are working
- How pricing models affect different types of businesses
- Which opportunities may be a stronger fit for future applicants
- Where marketing, curation or operations need to improve
Individual maker sales are kept confidential. We use identifiable sales information internally for event planning, evaluation and maker guidance. When performance information is shared more broadly, it is aggregated or de-identified.
Unless an event listing states otherwise, sales reports are due within 14 days after the event. Reporting zero sales is still useful data and should be reported accurately.
The right help at the right time.
During the event
Text the maker hotline at (720) 445-6381 for immediate event-day assistance.
Examples:
- Trouble locating the event or your booth
- Load-in access
- Booth-placement questions
- Safety concerns
- Water or immediate site needs
- Bathroom coverage
- Trash removal
- An operational issue that cannot wait until after the event
Every Gum Pop event has trained staff on site. The hotline connects makers to the appropriate person so the team can respond efficiently across the event.
Before or after the event
Email vending@gumpoppresents.com for issues that do not require immediate event-day action.
Examples:
- Applications or acceptance
- Payments and invoices
- Insurance or licensing
- Event policies
- Product approvals
- Sales reporting
- Feedback or complaints
- Questions after the event
Please do not use the event-day hotline for application questions, payment questions or post-event feedback.
More opportunities require consistent systems.
Gum Pop’s consistent systems allow us to produce 60+ events each year, serve multiple Colorado communities and offer makers a variety of price points and audiences.
It may feel different from a small organizer producing only a few events. That difference is what makes a year-round calendar possible.
Bring your product. Meet your next customer. Come back next weekend.
Hear when the next market opens.
New markets and application openings, emailed to the 5,000-plus people on our maker list.