Bob Ferguson, brilliant retailer and owner of the Redmond, Washington Ben Franklin Crafts & Frames ( http://www.craftsandframes.com/ ), clued us in on the unique opportunities one has with Marshmallow Peeps. You know, those chewy, marshmallow, sugar-coated chicks and rabbits we can't get enough of at Easter time? Personally, we're good for about a box or two a day, washed down by a couple of Cadburry Cream Eggs ...
Well, every year The Seattle Times holds Peeppalooza. Bob told us that customers were flooding his store in search of Peeps. When the store ran out, they would leave immediately as the hunt for Peeps continued.
What's the lesson? ANYTHING and EVERYTHING can be a craft item if you are a creative thinker! What holiday favorites could you embrace to start a trend, grab some press and spin the doors on your store?
Here's the article from The Seattle Times 2007 Peeppapalooza:
Peeps 2007
Nothing brings out creativity like marshmallow farm animals!
You outdid yourselves this year.
You created Peeps sculptures, movie posters, magazines, dioramas and a first: Peeps apparel. In all, we got more than 350 entries. A lot of you were inspired by a movie: We got around 10 "Peeps of the Caribbeans" (edging out last year's popular "Brokepeep Mountain").
More surprising, who knew Peeps were such activists? We got Peeps melted by global warming, ecoPeeps sitting in a tree, anti-war Peeps, GreenPeeps sailing the ocean. Unfortunately we can only publish a few of your entries, so we've chosen the best and added them to our "Peeppalooza" photo gallery.
Check out our selection from last year in "Peeps from the past" galleries.
Click here to see what all the fuss is about:
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=peeps08&date=20070408
And while you're at it visit the official Peeps website for recipes, crafts and more:
http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/
