Yes - you can expect to have a visit from several inspection officials from both the City of Des Moines and the State of Iowa prior to being allowed to open and begin serving. You must follow all directions from state and local inspectors, including potentially stopping serving until you remedy any issues. 

Any new liquor license or temporary modification of a liquor license within 1800 feet of the festival must have our written permission, per the City of Des Moines rules. This includes bars and restaurants with permanent buildings that are seeking a change to their existing liquor license to sell outside during the festival. Please contact us for more information. 

It is each vendor’s responsibility to know if they are required to collect and remit Iowa Sales Tax. The Beaverdale Fall Festival does not accept responsibility for vendors who fail to meet this obligation. Vendors who are required to remit sales tax must have a valid Sales Tax Permit. For questions, please call the Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance at (515) 281-3114.

We cannot guarentee a specific spot, but you are welcome to put any preferences on your application. Final placement is at the discretion of the Fall Festival. We try to limit direct competitors being located next to each other. 

Food Vendors prepare and sell food and/or drink for on-site consumption at the festival. Commercial Vendors must not prepare any food/drink for on-site consumption. Food Vendors have additional requirements for health & safety compliance, including but not limited to health and fire inspections as required by the City of Des Moines and the State of Iowa. Additional requirements may apply. If you are not sure which vendor space applies to you, contact us. 

All vendors must have general liability insurance listing the Beaverdale Fall Festival as additionally insured. From time to time, some of the landlords/parking lot owners may also require a certificate of insurance.  Your certificate of insurance must specify the Beaverdale Fall Festival as the certificate holder and must include at least $1,000,000 of general liability coverage per occurrence. There is an example here.

All Food and Farmers Market vendors are required to comply with the State of Iowa Public Health regulations governing the preparation, handling, and presentation of food. Prepared food vendors are responsible for obtaining all necessary licenses and permits required by the State of Iowa. A permit fee will be imposed and is valid for all state of Iowa Farmers Markets. You must have your food license prior to the event. If you do not have a license in advance, you will be required to shut down your operation, completely fill out the application, and you cannot reopen until inspected and approved by the inspector. Vendors are encouraged to contact the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals at (515) 281-6538 with any questions or concerns regarding product regulations, licensing, and fees. The Fall Festival is not responsible for health permits/inspections, however, festival is required by law to inform the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals of the attendance of all prepared food vendors.

The City of Des Moines has several requirements to be licensed to operate within city limits, including at our festival. While we recommend you reach out to the city for a complete list of rules, one important one that has caught up food truck vendors in the past is that they must pass inspection by the City Fire Marshal prior to the event. The city Fire Marshal only does these inspections twice a month. (This only applies to Food Trucks.) Please reach out to the city clerk's office or the fire marshal's office with questions specific to licensing and inspection. 

Failure to be licensed/approved by the City means you will not be able to participate in the festival. We are not able to refund application fees due to licensing issues. 

You may choose to pay by check. When doing so, you will not be charged the 3% credit card fee. This fee solely exists to cover the costs of processing credit card payments. 

No, one vendor to a space. Anyone found violating this rule will not be asked to leave without refund and banned from future festivals.

No, we have a special permit with the health department of the state of Iowa. All food trucks/vendors must be within our festival boundaries and pre-communicated to the state of Iowa prior to the festival. 

September 7th, 2024, but spaces typically fill up ahead of that. 

Food Vendors will pay a non-refundable application fee of $250 plus 8% of their gross sales at the festival. 

All of our vendors must have the appropriate general liability insurance to participate in the festival. 

If you are a food vendor and don't already have a general liability insurance policy you can get a short-term general liability policy that meets our requirements. Please follow this link to FLIP Insurance to get an insurance policy for the festival: https://app.fliprogram.com/events/11535  

We also recommend you ask your own insurance company for a quote and to discuss your options. 

We will provide a paper form for you to record your total sales at the festival. You can either pay us in cash the night of the festival, or we will send you an invoice to be paid in full within 15 days of the festival. 

No, we no longer provide electricity as an add-on. If you need electricity, you will need to provide your own generator that is rated to run at 70 dB or less. We will ask any generator that is too loud or unsafe to be shut off. (Suggested generator - Honda EU3000is or equivalent).