10/14/2026
🎃 WHAT HAPPENED AT BOO BASH IN HOLT? AND WHY THE MAIN DRAG NO LONGER TAKES THE SAME RISKS WITH VENDOR EVENTS.
I've been watching everything unfold regarding Boo Bash in Holt, and I have a different perspective than many people commenting.
I personally know Ami Leonard.
And I think that's what makes this situation so incredibly difficult to wrap my head around.
Over the years, I've known about significant changes in her life. From being laid off from GM, to difficulties in her long-term relationship with Corey, to downsizing from Holt to Lansing.
I don't know everything that has happened in her life over the last few years. I don't know what changed, what she may have been struggling with, or how things reached this point.
And I certainly don't know why this happened.
None of those personal circumstances excuse what vendors experienced, and I won't pretend to know whether they had anything to do with it.
But I do think there's a deeper conversation to be had here.
More than 50 vendors were expecting to participate in an event that never happened. According to local reporting, the school district hadn't even approved the use of the property.
People lost money. People lost time. People invested in inventory, supplies, advertising, preparation, and transportation.
And for some of those people, that money isn't disposable income.
That's grocery money. That's utility money. That's money they worked another job to earn so they could invest in their dream.
I'm incredibly grateful that The Main Drag Print Shop did not participate this year.
And this situation is a perfect example of why we've drastically changed our approach to vending.
For years, we attended vendor events, invested in booth fees, purchased supplies, spent countless hours preparing inventory, and hoped the turnout would justify the expense.
Sometimes it did.
Sometimes it absolutely didn't.
And sometimes the losses weren't just financial.
We've learned that bad business experiences can destroy relationships, damage trust, and turn something you once loved doing into something you dread.
When you're a small business, you don't have unlimited resources to absorb those losses.
One unsuccessful weekend might not mean much to a large company. To a small business owner, it can mean weeks of recovering financially.
And the worst part?
You can do absolutely everything right and still lose.
You can have beautiful products, competitive prices, excellent customer service, and a completely prepared booth.
But you cannot control whether an organizer follows through, whether the event is properly advertised, whether customers attend, or whether the entire event happens at all.
That's a tremendous amount of financial risk to place on someone who is already taking the risk of running a small business.
We've had people ask whether The Main Drag has closed, stopped producing, or isn't operating at the capacity we once were.
The answer is NO. We haven't gone anywhere. ❤️
We've simply changed our business model.
We're choosing more permanent vending opportunities, like our space at the Mega Mall, while continuing to focus on custom apparel, printing, graphics, and customer orders.
Permanent vending allows us to maintain a consistent presence without gambling hundreds of dollars and countless hours on a single weekend.
We're choosing stability over uncertainty.
We're choosing sustainable growth over constant financial exposure.
And we're choosing to protect the relationships we've built rather than repeatedly putting ourselves in situations where those relationships could be damaged.
Sometimes business growth doesn't look like doing MORE. Sometimes it looks like recognizing what is no longer worth the risk.
As for Ami, I genuinely hope the people who lost money receive their refunds and get answers.
I also hope we eventually learn what actually happened, rather than relying entirely on speculation.
Knowing someone personally doesn't mean excusing their actions. And holding someone accountable doesn't require pretending we understand everything happening in their private life.
Both things can be true.
My heart goes out to every vendor who spent their hard-earned money preparing for an event that never materialized.
Please continue supporting these small businesses. Visit their pages. Purchase their products. Share their work.
Because behind every vendor table is a real person taking a financial chance on something they believe in.
And to everyone wondering about The Main Drag:
We're still here. We're still creating. We're still producing. We're just building our business differently these days. 🖤
Pics of our first year vending.
