League Fair Gets Some Tech Help From the State, New Mobile Wifi System

Above, time to enjoy the 90th Annual League of New Hampshire Craftsmen’s Fair in Newbury Paula Tracy photo

By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

NEWBURY – The 90th Annual League of New Hampshire Craftsmen’s Fair concludes this Sunday and has been outstanding, organizers say, with good weather and help with new, mobile technology the state provided which allows for secure credit card transfers.

Annually, more than 20,000 visit the base area of Mount Sunapee ski area to attend the iconic summer arts event and to buy magnificent crafts and art.
This year there are 22 new vendors, said Sarah Nyhan, communications and administrative director.

Above, Olga Karisik-Updike showcases the work of her husband Michael Updike. Paula Tracy photo

“We’ve had really strong gate numbers,” she said Friday. “We are ahead of where we were at this point last year. The weather has been very cooperative. People have been very enthusiastic. They’ve enjoyed seeing the new and different things this year,” she said.

More than $2.4 million changes hands during the course of the week-long event, this year Aug. 5-13 and artists say they have had a fairly good fair with lots of visitors admiring and buying their work, which can be as much as 30 percent of their annual revenue.

Miriam Carter, executive director, said the fair got a lot of help this year from Gov. Chris Sununu, the state Office of Information and Technology which used federal American Rescue Act dollars to help solve a wifi problem at the base of the mountain which in the past had been inhibiting electronic sales.

Carter attended the Aug. 2 meeting of the Governor and Executive Council in Lebanon and with Sarah Stewart, commissioner of the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, outlined a problem and solution which was found after Carter said she asked the governor for some help.
On Friday, she sat down and explained what happened and how the problem has been solved.

Wifi was a problem.

Vail Corporation, a publicly traded organization took over the state lease for Mount Sunapee from a private corporation, Triple Peaks LLC, several years ago and the new leasee’s stated policy is to not have public wifi on its properties.

“Public wifi wouldn’t really help us because we need a secure network,” to transact credit card information, Carter said.

Above, my sister Nora Phillips of Wellesley, Mass. makes a credit card purchase. Paula Tracy photo

In the past when Triple Peaks operated Sunapee it invested and supported a non-profit model by putting out routers and creating a system for wifi.

“It worked, kind of, not great,” she said.
“So when the lease changed and the state took on Vail, COVID hit and then we had planned for a year and a half in 2020 to have a private company come in,” to solve the problem.

But that vendor “totally underestimated the need,” she said.
When the fair returned in person, “I knew on the opening day, we were under supported,” for wifi, Carter said.

The governor attended the opening and Carter said she told him of the problem and he replied, “We need to help you.”

By that Tuesday, everything crashed in terms of wifi sales.

“Our artists could not sell their work,” she said and people were screaming.
About $2.75 million in sales were mostly handled by artists writing down credit card information or using “knuckle buster” machines, Carter said.

“They got through,” she said. “But you don’t want to be known as the organization that writes down credit card information.”

The fair is ongoing this weekend with the gates open at 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily, rain or shine and tickets are $18 for a single day admission $17 for seniors, veterans and children under 12 are admitted free of charge.
For more information visit nhcrafts.org