Terry Tertiary Robertson and Melissa Dillon co-owners of Hempenetrable Creations will host the first ever Bizarket Free Love Market Saturday. Credit: Courtesy of Hempenetrable Creations
The first-ever Bizarket Free Love Market will celebrate uniqueness for those looking for a spin on classic Valentine’s Day festivities.
The Bizarket Free Love pop-up event — which will take place Saturday from 6-9 p.m. in the Art of Republic art gallery — will feature over 20 local vendors providing food, art and entertainment. Vendors attending the pop-up are all part of the Black, Indigenous and people of color, LGBTQ+ or allied communities.
The market, located at 34 W. Fifth Ave., will include gourmet vegan food vendors, local breweries, musicians, live paintings and raffles, according to the event page.
“I actually came up with the slogan,” Melissa Dillon, co-host of the event, said. “I say that the love is free [at the market], but you have to buy everything else. The love is free, but everything else has a price.”
Bizarket got its name through a combination of “market” and “bazaar,” but Terry Tertiary Robertson, co-host of the event, said he and Dillon also recognized that “bizarre” could reflect the nonconformity and variety of vendors.
“We chose this combination because it embodies the strangeness of the vendors,” Tertiary said. “They don’t conform to one theme of one industry or one style of creation. Some are artists, some create bath products, some create food and everything in between.”
Vendors include live painter and artist Chocolate Rose Art, anime apparel creator Tokyo Dreamers and botanicals and candle creator Luna y Tierra.
Vegan food provider Tofu Louie and vegan dessert bakers SophisticakeIt and Burrito Babe Bakery will also be in attendance, in addition to performing artist Ebri Yahloe and dance instructor and musician Adam Maynard, according to an Instagram post.
Tertiary and Dillon said they will showcase their own handcrafted art and jewelry brand, Hempenetrable Creations, which is made of natural materials such as crystals, hemp, gemstones, bones and wood.
Some of the Bizarket vendors were recruited by the pair of hosts, but Tertiary said social media also played a role in drawing vendors to the event.
“A lot of these people, we had collaborated or worked alongside at different pop-ups,” Tertiary said. “We just talked to them and told them that, inevitably, we are going to be planning something, and when we did, we reached out to them. So initially it was a lot of those people, but I promoted and shared it a little bit on social media and got decent feedback.”
The Bizarket Free Love Market is free to attend, but Tertiary said there is an 18-plus age requirement to foster a space for adults to celebrate Valentine’s Day. However, the couple said they plan to host future pop-ups — with unique themes and vendors — for a variety of ages.
