Thirty-five community vendor booths filled the Boone Mall with vibrant pinks and reds Saturday 11 a.m.- 5 p.m. for a Valentine’s community market.
The market was organized by Lover’s Lane Pop Up, and featured booths from local and student-artists alike.
Zoe Moore, junior industrial design major and the events manager for App State Student-Made, sells crochet clothes and recently ventured into making stuffed animals. Her Valentine’s Day collection included flowers and other love-themed accessories.
The Student-Made program aims to provide a platform for student entrepreneurs across multiple college campuses. As the events manager at App State, Moore is responsible for coordinating pop-ups and ensuring that events are executed properly.
“I work with people and businesses around Boone to try and find opportunities for us,” Moore said.
Moore found the Lover’s Lane event through Instagram and contacted Carly Martin, the organizer, in order for Student-Made to participate.
Martin’s booth highlighted her company Venus Cove, which sells crystals, handmade candles and jewelry.
Her candles have her company’s crystals inserted into the wax, and Martin said she enjoys the process of making them because she gets to focus on making them pretty.
“You just kind of melt the top layer of the candle and place everything,” Martin said.
Martin began the process of planning the event in November and said her first step was finding a venue to host by contacting local businesses.
“The mall was one of the first to get back to me,” Martin said.
Martin said that by December, all 35 vendors had confirmed their spot. In order for Student-Made to participate, Martin said she was able to lower the vendor fee at Moore’s request.
“They usually go to markets that are about $10 or less, so I lowered the cost for them,” Martin said. “They also brought their own tables since that was one of my biggest cost hurdles.”
However, Student-Made did not make up the majority of booths that participated in the market. Martin said over half of the vendors were unaffiliated locally-based creators who were selling their products. Brittney Mclean, a stay at home mom and founder of Mclean Co., sold her handmade clay earrings at the event.
Mclean said when the COVID-19 pandemic began, she was a resin artist, but she developed an allergy to the material. She turned to TikTok to try to find a new artistic outlet, and said she began working with clay after being inspired by someone she followed.
“I told my husband, ‘it would be so cool if I could make stuff like that,’” Mclean said.
Although not displayed at the market, McLean also makes custom replicas of wedding bouquets. She takes photos of the bouquets and recreates them by sculpting the clay to match. From there, she said they can be turned into pendants or earrings and make for a really meaningful gift.
Mclean said despite being introverted, the process of learning a new trade and independently selling it has been great, and she would recommend it to anyone who might be interested.
“It’s so much fun, and you meet a ton of people,” Mclean said. “I say go for it. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”
Correction: More clarifying information has been added to reflect the main organizer of the event, which was Lover’s Lane Pop Up.
