As San Diego slowly begins opening back up, vintage shoppers who love local goods can make their way to the San Diego Made Summer Market.
Happening this weekend at Grossmont Center, the event brings two days of more than 90 local artisans selling their wares along with live music, photo opps and art installations – all in a safe, socially distanced setting.
The San Diego Made Summer Market is the first summer market that San Diego Made has produced. The group normally puts on winter and spring events, but due to COVID, the winter market was pushed to summer. The organizers partnered with Grossmont Center, whom they’d worked with in the past, to hold the market on one of the shopping center’s lesser-used parking lots.
Safety was an important factor in choosing Grossmont Center. The parking lot is big and allows for social distancing.
“This is a really great place for everyone to feel safe and have a lot of space,” said one of the founders, Kristin Dinnis.
The event will be socially distanced, with booths spaced anywhere from eight to 20 feet apart. Masks are required. There is no seating area, nor any food vendors. Hand sanitizing stations will be found throughout the site, and temperature checks and health screenings will take place upon entry.
The market is also ’60s and ’70s themed, with guests and vendors invited to dress up. Some market employees will even be on roller skates, in keeping with the theme.
Some notable vendors include Garminx Curbside Boutique, The Art of MVP and Wild Cloud. On Saturday, local musicians Julianna Zachariou and La Boogie Buena will perform, while Puerto performs on Sunday.
San Diego Made was started back in 2014 by four friends and local creative business owners, Brittany Kaszas, Brook Dailey, Kristin Dinnis and Sarah Anderson. At first, the group put on smaller events, like maker’s markets, but in 2019, they created San Diego Made Factory, a 12,000 square foot warehouse in Logan Heights that houses coworking offices, art studios, event spaces and more amenities for creatives.
“We are four women who came together as small business owners ourselves, looking to create a way to bring more people into a space similar to the Factory that we have now, to sell our products, to create a community, to get involved and to help grow our business and other small businesses. A big part of what we were trying to do is to be able to bring all the makers together to the community so that small businesses in San Diego could thrive,” said Dinnis.
The market is free and open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, May 1 and 2 at Grossmont Center in La Mesa. For more information, visit sandiegomade.org.