The Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce鈥檚 Spring Trade Show drew around 8,300 visitors on May 13 and 14, according to executive director Deneen Everett.

This is in line with previous year鈥檚 numbers but one place the Trade Show has grown, Everett says, is in the wait list for vendors.

鈥淓ven though we added extra booths this year, we still had a wait list. So it鈥檚 really interesting to me I think to see how much demand there is,鈥� said Everett. 鈥淚 had exhibitors come and tell me after Saturday that they had sold out.鈥�

The number of booths increased from 160 to 184 last year, and while the chamber usually has a 鈥渕inor wait list鈥� for vendors, Everett says they had to turn people away this year.

鈥淯nfortunately, there were people that expressed an interest that we just couldn鈥檛 make room for,鈥� she said. 鈥淗opefully we can continue to expand the space and squeeze in a few more. I was out there with a measuring tape, so I think we can get in a few more.鈥�

Squeezing in more vendors led to other changes this year, including moving the food court into the Shorty Brown Arena, which freed up space for 30 vendors.

鈥淲e also tried leveraging social media to try and entice people to come and to increase awareness which was very effective,鈥� said Everett, adding the weather and the diversity of exhibitors also played a role in getting people out to this year鈥檚 event.

The final tallies haven鈥檛 been calculated yet but Everett says she believes the show is on track to meet the budgeted target of $60,000 in revenue. The Spring Trade Show is the second biggest revenue generator for the chamber, after membership fees.

Everett said the success of the show has given the chamber something to think about.

鈥淕iven that we鈥檙e a population of you know around 20,000, to see almost half the population coming out to the show,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think that there is a demand for these types of events. It鈥檚 something that our board will be exploring as potential expansions.鈥�