Organizers for the city of Aurora’s farmers market offered a special Valentine’s Art & Market event Saturday at Society 57 at 100 S. River St. in downtown Aurora.
Beginning at 9 a.m., the four-hour indoor market featured a number of the popular vendors found at the summer farmers market in the city as well as a few new ones. The market included hand-crafted gifts and items that organizers hoped would help those looking for a Valentine’s Day gift.
Market manager Felicia Freitag explained that the winter market had previously been organized by the Aurora Downtown group and that the city was following the same schedule of winter markets former organizers had put in place.
“We had a November and December market this past year,” Freitag said, in addition to the one held Saturday. There will be another one in April, she said.
Freitag said having the market just before Valentine’s Day “was pretty intentional as a lot of our vendors at this market are artisan vendors that are doing various things that would be great as a Valentine’s gift.”
“Many will have Valentine’s Day themed products. One of our vendors does custom-engraved wood products,” she said. “I know there will be heart-shaped things.”
A total of 24 vendors were on hand including three or four that have not appeared at Saturday farmers markets in Aurora in the summer.
Merchants like Cindy Fonseca, owner of FeedCin, who lives in Oswego and sells original art and jewelry, said she has been part of the market before and admitted shoppers seemed pretty excited about the event.
“It’s awesome. It’s so nice and convenient for people. The coffee’s here, the food’s here and the art and everything else. It makes it nice because when the weather is bad you can be indoors,” Fonseca said. “We now have the regular farmers market group behind us and it seems like they are trying to do a lot more variety this time and push the market and help the smaller businesses.”
Andrea Tapia of Aurora came early to the market on Saturday. She said she lives only “five minutes away” and likes coming to Society 57.
“I’m super happy to see the market back,” Tapia said. “I’m a line cook and I like to see a lot of things they have – there is a different culture out here. I like crafts and food stuff, especially baked goods. I’m definitely going to have a pastry before I go home and I’m ready to shop. It’s going to be exciting.”
Mary Lou Ruder of Sugar Grove came with her husband Wayne and said she met one of the vendors Saturday weeks ago at the Vaughan Center in Aurora and found out “she had a business and wanted to come and check it out.”
“This is our first time here but we love homegrown stuff and small businesses,” Ruder said.
House of Ivy owner Chelsie Kliese of Aurora was the vendor Ruder came to see and said she had been a member of the indoor market for a while.
“I started as an online home decor shop and then I sourced these concrete planters and just loved it and decided to figure it out for myself,” she said. “Now it’s all I do.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
