Hue’s been handling the whole Olympic “initiative” for the past month or two, but it’s tough for me just to let him take care of everything. Progress on the Olympic initiative have slowed a bit, and I just wanted to make sure we had everything under control and that Hue hadn’t forgotten anything. Am I control freak? ..Maybe.. But as I found out this morning, I was correct to be concerned.
I called up the City of Vancouver and spoke with the director of street vending, someone that Hue had already been in touch with. I just wanted to confirm all the details Hue already found, and ask a few questions of my own. Quick rundown: Mobile vendor permits are unlimited. As mobile vendors, we can sell our Beard Heads as long as we don’t stop and “set up shop” somewhere, and we stay outside the boundaries of Olympic venues. Basically, we’ll be allowed to sell anywhere on the street, but we can’t go into official areas. I was told those areas would be blocked off anyway, and we would probably need a ticket or something. We can only obtain a mobile vendor permit IN PERSON (in Vancouver)! That was news to me! Unfortunately, we won’t be able to get a permit beforehand…which sucks…but at least they don’t have a set amount before they run out (like they do for non-mobile vendors). The cost is $145 for a yearlong permit, and $33 per day. Since we’ll be there for a 2+ weeks, we have to get the year permit.
The real big surprise came when I mentioned we were NOT Canadian citizens, but rather from the U.S. Unfortunately, I think Hue forgot to mention that fact, and foreigners can’t be granted a street vending permit without getting a temporary work visa from Canada! Big problem! So now we have to figure out how to get a temp. working Visa or something…and I don’t really know what goes along with that. I already sent an email (no calls allowed) to the Canadian immigration consulate in Los Angeles, so hopefully we’ll hear back from them soon.
hire canadians to be permit holders for you and the have them vend for or with you.