Seasoned Greetings

The holiday season is upon us, and you know what that means: ’tis the season to shop. The Christmas wish is to find that perfect gift for everyone on your list; but the chances of that happening are slimmer than the skinniest candy cane. Trudging through the malls only brings about one depressing realization: store after store offers only slightly differing options, the majority of which include an unpleasant pinch of guilt when you arrive home to wrap the gifts and have to thumb off all those “Made in China” stickers.

The thought makes you want to add a shiny “Made in CNY” sticker to that Christmas wish. And why not throw a “$30 or Less” sticker on there, too? Ha, when reindeer fly, right? Wrong. This year that Christmas wish is one step closer to coming to fruition. From the ladies who bring you October’s annual Salt City Urban Arts and Crafts Market comes its new, seasoned partner: the Pepper Market. 

“It’s for hot deals,” explained the Pepper Market’s co-creator, Briana Kohlbrenner. “Spice up your holiday shopping.”

The market happens on Saturday, Dec. 8, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 812 N. State St. (the same block as Assumption Church), and will feature artists and designers who have offered their work at previous Salt Markets, as well as many new artists, all from Central New York. Everything from jewelry to stationery to clothing will be available, each item costing less than $30.

It’s a holiday spin on the Salt Market concept. “Through the years of doing the Salt Market, we entertained the idea of doing the second market for quite a while,” explained Kohlbrenner. “We knew a lot of vendors would want a second market and a lot of customers would want a second market. We were just never really sure what time of year would be best to do a second one, or if we had the time and energy among ourselves with our professions to do a second one.”

Kohlbrenner has collaborated with Stasya Erickson, Vanessa Rose and Courtney Rile for the last three years to put together the increasingly popular Salt Market. “We already had our tight crew meeting regularly to discuss {artists involved in the Salt Market}, and had drummed up enough support from the community to attend {the Salt Market},” noted Erickson. “And so it really seemed like not all the work was done for us, but a large portion was done for the second market. All we had to do was to keep it going, to sustain that energy.”

Each year as the organizers began planning the Salt Market, they put out a call for artists, and then came the hard part: deciding which artists were in. This year was especially difficult; 2011’s Salt Market space was large enough to hold 50 vendors, but October’s could only accommodate 30. 

“When trying to narrow it down to 25 to 30, we realized it was really hard,” said Kohlbrenner. “There were so many vendors that help make up the market, and in the balance of new vendors, you’d have to say no to a lot of regular vendors, and it’s just really stressful. So we brainstormed, rather on the spot: Is this the time when we can do a second market? Can we do a second market of equal size?”

Much to Syracuse’s delight, the answer was yes. The next challenge was to find a way to bring back the patrons who had just visited the Salt Market weeks before, as well as attract new customers. 

“And that’s where we revisited a hook. Could we have some kind of a catch that would draw people in undoubtedly, and it would be too intriguing to not check it out?” said Kohlbrenner. “And that’s where we came up with the 30 vendors selling their work for $30 and under idea, and it just clicked and everything just kind of fell into place really naturally.”

Another new detail of the Pepper Market is free admission. For the Salt Market, the creators asked for a $1 donation, but they decided this time to keep it simple. “For this one we thought that to lighten our load, attract more people, just to have it be open doors and a free event,” said Kohlbrenner, “just low-key and really fun and just about the work and buying affordable wonderful stuff.”

The Pepper Market won’t have the food and drink vendors the Salt Market offers, but there will be a couple new features. Local organization Northside Up, which is a market sponsor along with Kohlbrenner’s shop Craft Chemistry, will set up a table brimming with information about the other shopping opportunities in the area. 

“If somebody who just finished at the Pepper Market wants to grab coffee somewhere or continue for a tour of another space, there’s going to be a map that actually says all the things you could take advantage of,” said Erickson. “We are in a walkable community, and hopefully that would encourage other people to take advantage of all the other things that are going on that day.”

The market will also feature a few local musicians. “It won’t be something where people will be standing and viewing the person performing. It’ll be much more like a background acoustic set,” explained Erickson. “We’re really excited about that, just adding another layer of coziness to the whole event.”

The driving force behind all these markets is the wish for that “Made in CNY” sticker. Erickson explained how important it is to the organizers that the vendors keep their source material purchasing as local as possible. “{The Pepper Market is} a great place to purchase things that are made by local artists,” she said, “so the money’s all going back to the community, the Central New York region. And we think that’s really important, especially during the holiday season when so many people are making purchases, why not keep dollars local?”

For more information, check out saltmarketsyracuse.com.