The Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce hosted the Welcome Back WKU Festival for students today.

The festival housed booths, full of local vendors eager to advertise to students there.

One of the vendors at this year’s festival was Chris Baker, who publishes and distributes the Bowling Green and Warren County Phonebook with her husband.

The phonebook has been a staple in the dorms since it was first published 10 years ago.

Baker handed out free phone books to students and told them about her business’ free yellow pages app for the Android and I-Phone.

Although the university told her that many WKU students have smartphones, Mrs. Baker disagrees.

“People are still using phonebooks,” she said. “A lot of kids don’t have smartphones.” 

Another business featured at the festival was Snag Mob, an online coupon business that started in July. Snag Mob vendor Ashleigh Rotondo explained that Snag Mob offers 50 to 90 discounts on products and services sold in Bowling Green. Customers buy a featured product at a discounted price from Snag Mob, then print off a voucher and redeem their purchase from the business offering it. Out of what they earn from the purchase, Snag Mob gives 10 percent to nonprofit organizations located in Bowling Green.

“We’re helping small businesses in Bowling Green as well as nonprofit ones,” Rotondo said.

It’s not just the business the festival is benefiting, the students here at WKU are benefiting from it as well. Patrick Sniadowski, a Senior from Beckley, West Virginia, says that he’s been to the festival before and found a few businesses he’s taken a liking to. Sniadowski also said that students not only get free stuff at the festival, but they also discover what Bowling Green has to offer. 

“It helps students know where local businesses are,” he said.