Makers Market in Boulder highlights small local businesses – Boulder…

Scents, tastes, clothing and memories were available at the Makers Market on Sunday.

Sanitas Brewery, 3550 Frontier Ave. in Boulder, hosts a Makers Market every third Sunday of the month, into October, to celebrate and showcase small local businesses.

Sunday’s market was tucked behind the brewery but had plenty of food, live music and local vendors. Grandma Griffin’s Kitchen is only 4 months old, but the cookie recipes sold are over 40 years old. Jennier Ward, owner, said that she and her sister started the business as a tribute to their grandmother after she died. She said that the cookie recipes have been part of three generations in her family, and she recalled that the banana chocolate chip cookie is her favorite.

Ward explained that food has a way of bringing people back in time, and a single bite of food can hold memories and stories.

“Food is a catalyst for bringing people together,” Ward said.

People gather around food, and food can start to mean something more, Ward said. She also noted that her business tries to use as many local ingredients as possible.

Judy San Romero also noted that scents can hold a lot of memories. San Romero, owner of Stink, sells candles, wax melts, car air fresheners and other bath and body products. She started her business in June 2022, after a coworker told her that he bought a candle that did not emit an aroma once it was lit. She thought that candles were meant to have an aroma, so she took six months to experiment before she opened her business.

“Scent triggers memories. I’ve had people come and say, ‘Oh my god, this reminds me of my grandmother,’” San Romero said.

San Romero also had many unique scents for Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage months in May, like ube, taro and brown sugar boba.

Jacquelyn Moreno, owner of Jacquelyn Creates, is a multimedia artist who started her business last year. Moreno was selling upcycled clothing.

“I want to work to reduce the clothes that end up in landfills and give them a second life,” Moreno said.

She noted that she had a lot of stress and negative emotions about the environment and sustainability, and she wanted to make a change. By diverting clothing from landfills, where it can take decades to decompose, the clothing can instead be repurposed. She noted that her upcycled clothes were handmade, made to last and unique.

Inés Marti Devolx, who uses they/ them pronouns, said that it was their first Makers Market, but was also their last market in the United States. Marti Devolx said they will be moving out of the country soon, but they still wanted to show off their crafts. Artful Pisces, Marti Devolx’s business, started in October 2022 as an online Etsy shop.

“It’s just so much easier to connect in person; online there is not as much outreach,” Marti Devolx said.

They noted that in-person booths allow the customer to better engage with the vendor. Marti Devolx started Artful Pisces because they were just too creative to stay in a regular office job and needed an outlet for creative expression. They taught themselves how to make all the crafts they were selling, whether wire wrapping, other jewelry or crochet.