'This helps a lot of the community come together': Iowa City's South District Diversity Market returns

Amaris Rodriguez and her mother participated in the inaugural South District Diversity Market last year.

They returned Saturday. Only this time, Rodriguez is a vendor with her own business while her mom served up tamales and more across the Pepperwood Plaza parking lot in Iowa City.

Rodriguez sells handcrafted cards and organic herbs. She is saving the money she makes at the market to buy a car.

Rodriguez said the market benefits the city, and she appreciates the space to set up her booth.

“There’s so many people (here) from different places; they come from different backgrounds,” she said. “This helps a lot of the community come together as one.”

The pop-up market sponsored by the South District Neighborhood Association is meant to elevate BIPOC and women entrepreneurs and artisans.”

This year, the market has expanded from five weeks to 10. It will be held every Saturday from 1-7 p.m. The number of participating vendors has also doubled, from 25-30 last year to 60 this year.

Opening day vendors included Erika Christiansen and her handcrafted candles — which were selected as part of a Johnson County Public Health art commission earlier this year — to returning vendor Selina Gunn of Selina’s Creations, a mobile catering company and food truck. Jewelry, art, baked goods and more were sold at Saturday’s market.

Beyond vendors, the market now has community organizations and nonprofits present, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of Johnson County and the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, to help people access these services.

“It’s a beautiful thing to see these vendors take a chance on themselves,” Tasha Lard, president of the Board of Directors for the South District’s Self-Supported Municipal Improvement District, told the Press-Citizen.

Lard said the Diversity Market reflects the strength of the South District neighborhood “village,” evidenced by all the participating vendors and the numerous visitors.

'People need to get back out': Returning and new vendors praise the Diversity Market

The Diversity Market was built by community members in the South District, including Marlén Mendoza, Angie Jordan and Lard. It was a bit of an extension of Tasha Lard’s "business corner" in her store, JD Beauty Supply.

The first Diversity Market occurred last July. In August, Jordan told the Press-Citizen that the market was a piece of the South District Neighborhood Association’s efforts in establishing a SSMID.

The Diversity Market’s location this year, the Pepperwood Plaza parking lot, puts the event inside the SSMID’s defined area.

“Entertainment has been done over the years in the neighborhood,” Jordan told the Press-Citizen in March. “Why not center it at the heart of our SSMID district and get people excited and aware of it.”

Sharon Walker, creator of Smoke Maison Grill House, is a new vendor at the market and is using the opportunity to save money to invest in a food truck.

Walker was in the process of opening a soul food restaurant in Gary, Indiana, when her son died.

“This is mostly for him, for me,” she said.

Walker has been cooking for 40 years. She said by being at the market, she was going to learn from other vendors.

Her menu will change throughout the course of the 10 weeks, shifting from hot links to wings and more.

Amber Robinson, creator of the business Enchanted Body, is a mediation teacher and a crystal chakra healer. Robinson uses crystals to heal and align people’s chakras, a spiritual concept that believes there are pools of energy located across the body that aid a person’s physical and mental well-being.

She started Enchanted Body last year, driving to customers' homes or providing virtual services.

A friend passed along information about the first Diversity Market last year, catching Robinson’s attention.

She was a vendor for all five weeks, successfully gaining more attention for her business outside of Cedar Rapids, where she works.

“I had people contact me after they came and visited me up there. So that was good. This year, I'm already getting a little more publicity from all the advertisement,” she said. “That was the point. Just to get the word out that there's more than just crystal shops out here.”

Robinson said she had always been a spiritual person. When her fiancée died in a car crash, Robinson homed in on it.

“Just the natural life stresses that everybody just complains about every day, I was a part of that, too,” she said. “Then all that just went away. I look at life a lot different. I appreciate it more and I love passing that on to people.”

People that seek out Robinson’s services often are looking for peace or a different direction in life, she said.

Robinson will be at this year’s Diversity Market all 10 weeks. Last year, she had the opportunity to connect with other entrepreneurs and support them by purchasing their products.

“It's a great opportunity for small business owners to get out there,” Robinson said. “Also, to bridge the gap between towns, too. I've been advertising my butt off to try to get people to go up (to Cedar Rapids). And after a couple of rough years that we've had with all this COVID and stuff, people need to get back out.”

Paris Barraza covers entertainment, lifestyle and arts at the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Reach her at PBarraza@press-citizen.com or (319) 519-9731. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa City Diversity Market helps vendors work toward goals