Coming next weekend, celebrating the holidays should kick into full gear. The Richmond Night Market is partnering with the city, the office of economic development and others to host Holiday Villages, a two-day virtual holiday shopping experience, Saturday, Dec. 5 and Sunday, Dec. 6.
Fans of Richmond culture can check out the goods featuring art, food and live music from independent artists. Also if you’re interested in becoming a vendor, you can apply at www.richmondnightmarketva.com. Check out the website to join the mailing list and get alerts for local gift ideas.
“Richmond is an amazing city and we want to make sure folks don’t forget about that, especially during these challenging times,” said Melody Joy Short, co-founder of Richmond Night Market, in a recent press release. “We are a village and it’s important that we continue to support each other, including our artisan and small business community.”
A little background on the Richmond Night Market: It launched in April 2019 as a monthly gathering at 17th Street Farmers’ Market in Shockoe Bottom and sold a variety of clothing, jewelry, visual art, home decor, skincare products and more. The press release notes that organizers have shifted their approach due to the COVID-19 surge, moving to a safer virtual shopping experience that looks to connect shoppers with independent, local small businesses.
Organizers want to remind you of the importance of shopping local, especially this year.
“We were able to retool the Night Market experience this summer by bringing designers, photographers and DJs to our livestream and right into people’s homes,” explained Adrienne Cole Johnson, co-founder of Richmond Night Market, in the press release. “Not only was it a social event where people gained exclusive access to artists [but] attendees were introduced to more local brands. The response to hosting an online shopping experience was so incredible, we decided to do it again.”