WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Many local crafters and vendors set up shop for Small Business Saturday.
The Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County hosted the Local and Global Holiday Market.
All items for sale were handmade by a local women-owned business or from somewhere worldwide where workers are paid a fair wage.
“This is a big deal for Wichita because we need to think on purpose with our shopping. We are trying to highlight that we can be more intentional about who we impact and where our goods are coming from when we shop during the holidays or any time of year,” said Katy Munden, organizer of Women Empowered Market.
Nonprofits, like the International Rescue Committee, were there to share how they are helping the community, plus some Ukrainian refugees were there selling items to help support them in their new lives.
“To help them, I need to see that they want to do something to help themselves, and if I ask Maria if she would like to do anything to support herself, she said, yes, I can crochet. I ask Anna what she can do, so she made the bars. I asked Nadea and she is not a crafter, but she said I will help you set up the table so it makes me so inspired because they are helping themselves also,” said Galyna Golyshevska with IRC.
Over in downtown Wichita, the new holiday market ‘Bringing it Black’ opened its doors.
The shop will be open through the end of December at 600 E. Douglas Ave.
“It is a good opportunity for businesses and organizations to really get the word out and then making sure that in the downtown area, you are going to hit a lot of different folks. And so while we are Black centered, we also want to ensure that other groups minorities, the majority, have the opportunity to connect across as you grow your community you grow culture, and it turns dollars in our community,” said Danielle Johnson with Bringing it Black.
Black-owned businesses featured everything from jewelry, clothes, and greeting cards.
“I always wanted to make cards that looked like the people I knew, whether African American people or people of other ethnicities. I really wanted to focus on cards that you wouldn’t see in stores and communities that weren’t represented because it means so much to get something that looks like you,” said Paris Cunningham with Paris Jane Creates.
Cunningham will soon sell stickers in collaboration with Hallmark.