Behind the Scenes: GCSU staff return to festival as vendors with new plan

As The Deep Roots Festival approaches, vendors such as Tom and Jenny Hansel, owners of Innovative Ideas DBA Ultra Pampering, are hard at work preparing for the festival.

Ultra Pampering primarily makes handcrafted bath and body products.

“We sell more products at Deep Roots than any of the other spring and fall festivals,” Jenny Hansel said.

This year the Hansel’s have expanded to two tents, and they have also added a whole new line of products.

“Our newest addition we will unveil this Saturday at Deep Roots is our beer soaps,” Jenny Hansel said. “Beer is actually very good for your hair and your skin, it’s found in many bath and body products.”

The Hansel’s have been vendors at Deep Roots since 2006.

“Deep Roots is one of six fall festivals that we are doing,” Jenny Hansel said. “In preparation for these, we are working until the wee hours of the morning every night.”

The Hansel’s start setting up at 6 a.m. for Deep Roots. This year Jenny Hansel’s sister is coming to help get everything set up. They have learned through their experience that certain preparation techniques can help the day run smoother.

“We’ll have to sit down and do a diagram of the tables and lay everything out just to save us time,” Jenny Hansel said. “It takes us an hour and a half to set up and break down, and that’s when we have a plan. You can plan ahead but you still have to be flexible about it.”

The Hansel’s diagram locations for items so they can keep track of everything that needs to be displayed. In addition to the handcrafted bar soaps, the Hansel’s also provide a range of body lotions made with a base of shea butter, goat milk or yogurt.

The Hansel’s are both full-time staff members at GCSU so they have been working hard making their unique crafts for Deep Roots. Tom Hansel is currently the warehouse manager for Central Receiving and Jenny Hansel is the senior secretary at University Housing.

Posted by Katelyn Hebert on Oct 22 2010. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.