Vendor Load-In Schedule: Template, Email and Checklist for Festivals and Markets

When every vendor is told to arrive at 7 a.m., you get a line of vans at one gate, food trucks blocked by a tent half-built in the lane, and vendors still unloading when shoppers walk in. A load-in schedule fixes that by giving each group of vendors its own window, entrance and unloading zone. This page is for festivals, fairs, farmers markets and craft shows where vendors drive in and set up themselves. For exhibit halls with a dock and a general service contractor, use an exhibitor move-in schedule instead.

• Start from your site map with every space numbered and every zone named; the vendor market layout guide covers rows and aisle widths
• Mark entrances, vehicle routes, unloading zones and vendor parking on the map
• Group vendors by zone and by vehicle type
• Work out how many vehicles each unloading zone can hold at once
• Set a vehicles-off-site time well before the doors open

Load from the back of the site to the front, and from the hardest vehicles to the easiest. Food vendors usually go first because they need power, water or a fire inspection before they can open; the food vendor placement guide covers where they should sit. The times below are an example for a Saturday festival that opens at 10 a.m.; change them for your site.

• Unload, then move the vehicle to vendor parking before setting up; no setting up while the vehicle blocks the lane
• Walking pace on site, hazard lights on, with a spotter when reversing near people or tents
• No vehicles on site after the vehicles-off time until load-out is announced
• Food trucks and trailers parked, leveled and chocked before connecting to power or water
• Hand carts, wagons and dollies welcome; bring your own unless the event provides them
• Vehicles that stay with the space, such as food trucks, must fit inside the space and be noted on the application

Write these into your vendor rules and regulations so vendors accept them when they book, and the schedule email only has to repeat them.

Send this two to three weeks before the event with the site map attached, then a short reminder two to three days before.

• Load-in crew briefed, with radios or a group chat and a copy of the schedule
• Gates staffed and signed with which vendors use each entrance
• Space numbers marked on the ground with paint, flags or cones
• Check-in table with the vendor list sorted by window and space
• Unloading zones coned off, with a staff member timing each vehicle
• Staging area for early arrivals, away from the gates
• Fire lanes and emergency access kept clear throughout
• Power and water points checked before food vendors arrive
• Vehicles-off-site sweep at the set time
• Final walk to check every space is inside its lines and aisles are clear

1. 1

   Clear the site first

   Announce close and wait until shoppers have left the vendor rows before any vehicle comes on site.

2. 2

   Pack before vehicles move

   Ask vendors to pack completely before fetching their vehicle, so vehicles don't sit in lanes while tents come down.

3. 3

   Release in reverse order

   Release vehicles in the reverse of load-in: entrance rows first, then the far rows, with food trucks last once the lanes are clear.

4. 4

   Check out each space

   Check each space for trash, weights and damage before the vendor leaves, and note anything for the deposit or next year's application.

A load-in schedule only works if every vendor knows their space number before they arrive. With vendor fair software, vendors pick and pay for a numbered space on your map, and you can publish the schedule and rules where they will find them again.