Blueberry festival brings new beginnings for small business

MARSHALL COUNTY, Ind— Over 100 vendors get a spot at the Blueberry Festival in Marshall County for the four-day event. The owner of ‘The Happy Little Pineapple Shop’ experienced new beginnings, landing a spot at this year's festival. This festival is a big change compared to her past experiences working at farmers' markets.

Sarah Lakin, Owner of Happy Little Pineapple Shop, tells ABC 57’s Sidney Moore, "It's my first year here. So, I'm really excited. I tried to apply last year, and I didn't get accepted. And so, then this year, I was on a waiting list, and waiting list, wait list, and finally I got called, and they said they had it available or opening. And I was like, yes, let me jump in on it.”

Lakin is located in central Indiana and was able to travel north to make this four-day festival. She says, "So I am located in Brownsburg, Indiana. So, I am a Hoosier native here!”

Lakin creates different infused olive oils to be used for cooking and eating with a wide variety of foods. But her journey did not begin here. She explains, “Several years ago, that's where my name came from, making cupcakes and cookies and sweets and everything started off as a baker, and about three years ago, I switched over to doing olive oil.

After starting up her business, she began attending local farmers' markets to sell her product. She is now attending the Blueberry festival, where over 500,000 people will attend across the four days. With a big crowd comes big preparation. Lakin explains, “We’d set up at farmers' markets. We'd set up and tear down and 15 minutes to half an hour and like, set up here took me, like, almost two days, and then you're kind of, it's almost like a festival is like a marathon, and a farmers' markets like a sprint. So, you pound everything out, out in a farmers' market in four hours, whereas a festival, your kind of must pace yourself over several days.”

Lakin also tells ABC 57’s Sidney Moore that many of the vendors at the Blueberry festival actually travel from out of state to be able to showcase their products at this massive event.