By Riley Benson
Despite the sweltering Florida heat and sidewalks still in recovery mode from Hurricane season, St. Petersburg locals can be spotted out at a neighborhood market. From handmade candles to taxidermy bugs, there’s an option for every niche.
Arguably, the most popular markets are the weekly Saturday Morning Market and monthly Mezzo Market. Recently, the November Mezzo Market boasted over 140 vendors at their market with hundreds of attendees, including local influencers.
Both Saturday Morning Market and Mezzo Market have almost 20 thousand followers on Instagram, making them the most followed markets in the city.
“[The Saturday Morning Market] is a huge source of pride for locals,” said Amy Karol, a resident of Clearwater for almost 20 years. “We love seeing people go down with their bags and baskets to visit their usual Saturday stops. You can hear people chatting with the vendors and get the sense these are relationships that have existed for years.”
According to Karol, her family makes plans every month to drive down to the St. Petersburg markets.
“This year having the market back so quickly after the storms is creating a sense of normalcy for all of us,” she said.
However, after the sun goes down, there’s a more hidden genre of local shops, like New Moon Makers Market and Groovehive Market.
New Moon Makers Market was first started in 2021 by Artemis Moon, who said she felt that the more traditional markets in the city lacked diversity in sellers and visitors, especially as a “taxidermy- and insect-centered maker.”
That’s when the idea to start her own market, dedicated to all the outcasts of St. Petersburg, began to evolve in her mind.
According to Moon, there were about six vendors at the very first New Moon Makers Market, and she was only handing out flyers at select spots in town, like Black Crow Coffee. Even on a small scale, the reaction from the community was enough to grow the market to over 30 vendors.
“Although I did give it the little ‘baby push’ of what I wanted the market to be, I always swear that it was not my doing,” Moon said. “It was 100% the queer community, that showed up for us, and really pushed us to keep going.”
Similar to New Moon Makers Market, Adriana Catalinotto noticed that all of the most popular markets were missing live music and mostly took place during the day, she said.
Wanting to create her own vision for a late-night market, Catalinotto began Groovehive Market, a showcase of local artists, vintage goods and a place to connect with the community.
“People tell me that every market feels like such a safe and welcoming environment,” Catalinotto said. “It doesn’t feel judgy, and it doesn’t feel like a hierarchy system, and it feels like everyone is welcome. I also am really happy that I can have different cultures represented and keep it an inclusive space for everybody too.”
The diversity and expansion of local markets in St. Petersburg reflect a growing demand for spaces where community members can gather and support small businesses. For vendors at New Moon Makers and Groovehive, these markets provide opportunities to carve out spaces that reflect the city’s evolving culture.
“Markets can be competitive, in the sense that the bigger markets won’t really encourage newer vendors to be part of it, because they don’t want to ‘babysit’,” Catalinotto said. “But I want to help nurture these vendors and get them into the community.”
For many local market organizers and vendors, despite the chaos that St. Petersburg recently experienced with Hurricanes, all markets, big and small, have shown that these events only strengthen the community.
For many, these events remain a vital part of life in St. Petersburg, as it continues to foster community engagement while giving small businesses a platform to thrive.