Woman's business rejected from fair

Said to go against ‘family nature' of event

Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009

Debbie Powell says that she is in the "romance enhancement" business with "Tasteful Treasures by Debbie," which she described as "in-home party sales; like Tupperware, just more fun."

Powell said that though she exhibited at the Calvert County Fair in 2002, she was denied this year and told that the nature of her business was not appropriate in a family-friendly atmosphere.

"I'm trying to do it in the most tasteful way possible," said Powell, who said that aside from bringing samples of products like lotions, she would mainly have used the fair to hand out business cards and company information.

"My kids are going to be there and I wouldn't want my kids to even see [more explicit products]," Powell said, adding that such products are already "sold right off the shelf at Kmart."

Powell said that while the majority of her products are sold at home shows, parties and ladies' expositions, she was looking forward to doing the fair in her county.

She said that 2002-2003, the year after she last exhibited at the fair, was the busiest sales year she ever had, despite only selling lotions and bath baskets.

"If you know what [the business] is and you don't want to come to the booth, you don't have to," said Powell, who likened her booth to the ones Democrat and Republican parties set up, in that all displays can be avoided.

The personnel in charge of the fair, however, see it differently.

"I can see parents coming that know [the nature of the products Powell sells] and I don't think they'd want to bring their children somewhere that sells this," said Carol Lee, the president of the Calvert County Fair Board.

Lee said that just the name of the business seemed to fall outside the scope of the family-oriented message the fair wanted to project, leading the board to vote against Tasteful Treasures by 100 percent.

Lee added that the board decided against selling beer at the fair several years ago for the same reason.

Connie Summers, who is in charge of commercial spaces for the fair, agreed with Lee saying, "Because of the [nature of the] products, we didn't think it was something children and families would appreciate."

She said that even though Powell was not planning the sell actual products, "the issue is with the business.

"It's OK for parties [and] things like that, but not in a setting that's geared toward families," Summers said.

Powell, however, said that the fair has been a family affair for her as her husband Craig frequently exhibits his heating and air conditioning business there.

"There's nothing I'd rather do than be at the fair but I mostly just want [the fair board] to catch up with the Joneses," Powell said. " … I just want the chance to be able to advertise my business like any other business."

lbuck@somdnews.com