This week is dedicated to a local market that I went to on last Saturday. I’ve been into local Farmers Markets for a while now, but I just LOVE local markets that highlight small businesses. I went to support my friend’s husband in his first time setting up a booth, but it was a fantastic experience. Some businesses were giving free samples, there was a live band, and they had crafts and a play area for the kiddos. I took the opportunity to scope out ideas for Christmas and birthday presents because I’d rather support a black business or even other small businesses before I pour my money into a chain store any day! So today I share items that I found from the Mid City Makers Market, which is held once per month in the Midcity area of Baton Rouge.

First, it was HOT 🥵 in those streets on a Saturday at 7PM (event was 6-9PM). I probably should’ve waited until FALL to turnup about outside, local markets but 🤷🏾‍♀️ here I am recounting my sweaty good time from last weekend. Anyway, I had on my fresh white sneakers for an outdoors market with kids running around everywhere 🙄😑😱 but miraculously they’re STILL CLEAN!! I thought I was cute y’all…

Did y’all peep 👀 those earrings tho?!? They’re made of paper and dipped in something to harden them. They’re lightweight and gorgeous. These are made by my friend’s husband (my Cameroonian cousin), Guy. Hop on over to his IG @guy_art_quills to see his other creations! SN: He was sharing a space with a Cameroonian friend who also makes some pretty darn cool crafts (Sorry, I didn’t take any pics but she has plenty on her IG @lindart2013).

Here are some of the other goodies/businesses I found:

I pretty much only consume local honey…I have way too many sinus/allergy issues and move around a bit much so the pollen in local honey (wherever I’m at in the moment) does my body good. I had just ran out of my honey at home and ran into this local, reasonably priced stuff. They won me over with the honey butter that they were sampling. OMG 😮 I couldn’t buy the honey butter because I KNOW if I have it at home I will be sitting on a couch with the jar and a spoon…

My other favorite spot was this vegan pastry place. I tasted their vegan chocolate chip cookie and it was delicious! The pictures on their IG @plantbasedsweetsbylotus makes me salivate…I bought this vegan banana bread with pecans and demolished it as soon as I reached home. I will be ordering from them again.

I found a few other businesses that I’ll be following up with for some local goodies. I should’ve taken more pics, but this will do…

Do you have a favorite local market to go to? Does your city/neighborhood celebrate small businesses??

Sincerely,

Stassi the Small business hunter