For those of you who missed the Texas Avenue Makers Fair on April 15, who cannot go to https://theepoxyresinstore.com/blogs/news/can-you-mix-paint-with-epoxy or who are already going through withdrawal, you have another chance to find unique, local, handmade crafts and goods — at the Rock-N-Shop Craft Bazaar in Bossier City on Saturday.
Shoppers can peruse and buy original artwork, jewelry, custom clothing, carved bird houses, and other items made by Ark-La-Tex vendors.
Rock-N-Shop is more than a one-day crafts market, though. The two women who started it in early 2013, Leigh Eide and Valencia Price “were on a mission to create a family friendly craft show that focused on uplifting the community and helping local charities.” The event will feature fun activities for children, including bounce houses, allowing parents to shop and socialize undistracted. There will be gift basket raffles, with all the proceeds from the raffle ticket sales benefiting a local nonprofit.
Tomorrow’s raffle sales will go to the Renzi Education and Art Center, which gives free after-school art and academic classes to at-risk kids, grades K-12, in Shreveport and Bossier City. Raffle tickets are $1 each.
This year’s Rock-N-Shop show will be the third one since Eide and Price created it two years ago. The two met in 2011 when Eide hired Price as a volunteer co-leader of a Barksdale Air Force Base Girl Scout Brownie troop. They volunteered for the troop together over the next two years, becoming friends and learning about each other’s skills and work. When Price saw the wooden signs Eide had made, she encouraged her to participate in the craft show circuit so she could sell more of them.
“As most beginners in craft show know, it’s very intimidating starting out,” Eide said. “Valencia has one of the most positive and upbeat attitudes I’ve ever known, which helped me take the plunge.”
But Leigh had trouble finding local craft shows, and as a mother of three children, she did not want to travel to shows outside SBC. Price, who wanted to expand her event planning knowledge, suggested to Eide that they start their own local craft show despite neither having ever planned one. Eide said they looked to the Texas Avenue Makers Fair (TAMF) as a model for Rock-N-Shop.
“We were inspired by how they run their show, how organized they are, and the handmade vendors they attract.”
As mothers, both Eide and Price wanted to have activities for children at their show. Eide said she had to drag her kids to a couple of shows she worked when she was a craft vendor, and although her children found ways to entertain themselves, she thought, why not provide a little entertainment for the shoppers’ kids?
“It’s important for me to be able to do kid friendly things with my son,” added Price. “That is why I wanted the shoppers’ children to be able to have things to do at our events. It allows the shopper to enjoy their shopping experience and entertain their children.”
Both women also wanted to have a local nonprofit benefit from their show, to bolster an organization they thought strengthened the community. Price said they choose small organizations since large, established nonprofits “already garner plenty of support.” After that, it comes down to their core values and how the nonprofit inspires them. “Our first two shows benefited the Cypress Zoo,” Price said. “The zoo rehabilitates sick and injured animals as well as provides shelter for them. For our 2014 spring show we will be benefiting Renzi Arts and Education Center because they bring the amazing world or art and creativity to the community.”
The first Rock-N-Shop show was held in June 2013. Leigh said the first Rock-N-Shop show went well, but they still learned some “hard lessons,” such as finding out the city of Bossier had rules for everything, down to where you can place a yard sign. Valencia added, “One change we made from our first show and do completely different now is advertising. The first show we stuck to direct mailing, flyers, and only a few TV commercials. Now we focus on all types of media: radio, Facebook, web banners, and signs.”
The two say they learn and grow at each show, with each one turning out better than the last.
The 2014 Spring Rock-N-Shop Craft Bazaar will be at 3000 Old Minden Road in Bossier City, tomorrow, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. For more information, visit the show’s website or Facebook page.
-Jennifer Hill