NEWS

Rolfe Square gets a little Juicy

Westminster Street market makes Cranston appearance

By ED KDONIAN
Posted 3/29/23

The PVD Juicy Market visited Cranston on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. bringing together a group of local vendors and giving them a place to sell their wares to locals and bring attention to their …

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NEWS

Rolfe Square gets a little Juicy

Westminster Street market makes Cranston appearance

Posted

The PVD Juicy Market visited Cranston on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. bringing together a group of local vendors and giving them a place to sell their wares to locals and bring attention to their businesses.

Hosted by Cafe Ava at 48 Rolfe Square, the market hosted clothing designers, artists, holistic and plant based skin care products, herbal teas, ceramics and more. Founded by two friends and small business owners, Monica Martin and Gretchen Lizarda, in 2021, the Juicy Market focuses on creating a platform and network to help other small businesses throughout Rhode Island garner support and expand.

“We did one at the Park Theater around the holidays,” Martin said. “This makes our second effort trying to reach out to Cranston, and we’re trying to do more.”

Those attending the market were greeted by a variety of booths and small businesses. 2C, a small business started by sisters, Chelsey Stone and Courtney Wren, is focused on holistic healing and cleansing of the body. Herbal teas, gems and a variety of other products to support physical and spiritual health were on display and samples of a warm and soothing mint tea were handed out to those who took the time to visit their store’s table. Those looking to find more of 2C’s products can find them online at 2CHerbsGemsMore.com

The Gemma Lou Collective, named after owner Caleigh Eleftherion’s dog, focused on making sustainable candles and clothing. Eleftherion said that the idea of sustainability was important to her and that she spends much of her time searching through thrift shops hunting for cute ceramic and glass containers to hold her hand made candles which can be seen on her instagram @gemmaloucollective.

“I noticed that a lot of candles have the wick glued to the bottom and once you’re done with the candle you can’t get it out to reuse the container,” Eleftherion explained. “I use a sticker to hold the wick down when I set the candles so when it’s all burned away you can clean out the rest of the wax and easily remove the wick. That way when it’s all done you’re still left with a cute container that you can even put a new candle in.”

As people milled about the selection of tables showing off the hard work of small business owners, a constant draw seemed to be the eye-catching ceramic work of Laiza Fuhrmann. Lai Ceramics, the name of Fuhrmann’s company, seeks to highlight the beauty of life and its subjects. With bright colors and interesting designs her mugs, bowls and even stickers showed not only her skill with a kiln but also her passion for her craft.

“Our goal with the Juicy market is to kind of create a sip and shop,” Martin said. “We paired up with Cafe Ava and set up most of our booths in the realty shop next door. The Cafe has been great and we’re excited for people to stop in for a coffee and browse the vendors.”

The vendor’s were excited too. Crave Infused Cosmetics, run by Zara Salmon, shared the story behind the beginning of her CBD infused body butters, massage oils and candles.

“Our story starts with Edbert Seymour Salmon when he was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998,” Salmon tells those willing to take a moment to ask or read her story. “Against the advice of his doctors and his family, he embarked on a plant-based juice fast for 6-months instead of the Western medicinal route. The results - his tumors shrunk and he lived until January 25, 2022, 24-years passed his original diagnosis. Through her grandfather's example, Zara Ayanna Salmon - Founder of CRAVEInfused, grew up seeing just how powerful plants could be.”

The Juicy Market has been running since 2020 though they didn’t adopt the Juicy name until 2022. Martin said that she and Lizarda were both working in restaurants years ago when things started. During COVID, both of their restaurants were hit pretty hard and they turned to becoming vendors. Together they began doing a bunch of different events and found there simply wasn’t enough space to get themselves out there. That’s when they put together the Westminster Artist Market, which still runs to this day.

Those looking for upcoming events for the Juicy Market can take a look at the calendar on their website, juicymarketpvd.com.

Rolfe, Juicy, market

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