Every Thanksgiving weekend, millions of Americans spend their hard-earned dollars on national Black Friday deals.
Ester Venouziou believes supporting local and small businesses is even more important. This led her to create the first Shopapalooza Festival in 2010 to replicate a Black Friday-style event for these companies. Fifteen years later, it has become a St. Petersburg tradition.
The annual festival, produced by Venouziou’s business advocacy organization LocalShops1, will return to Vinoy Park Saturday and Sunday.
Approximately 365 makers and small businesses are scheduled to participate. These include artists, photographers, jewelry designers, authors and clothing stores.
“It attracts more people when there is a group of businesses clustered rather than supporting them individually,” Venouziou explained. “The goal is to help them year round. So, we make sure that we have a lot of brick and mortar stores participating to bring customers not only back to their shops, but to their districts.”
Many of the businesses stem from the Grand Central and EDGE districts, Gulfport and Pinellas’s beach towns, she added.
Children entrepreneurs and artists will also have their own section at Shopapalooza. This is a collaboration with The Kidpreneur Club, a local organization dedicated to empowering young business leaders between the ages of six and 16.
A group of about eight children participated last year as a trial, Venouziou said. This year, approximately 30 are set to attend.
The children are charged a (reduced) fee to run a booth at the event. They make gift cards to give away to guests, she explained.
The Shopapalooza Festival is the largest event the students get to participate in, Kidpreneur Club founder and executive director Danielle Cannon added.
“They really get to solidify what they’ve been working on. They’ve been deciding what products sell and what do not and how to price everything,” she said. “It’s a really great opportunity to interact with other business owners and the community members that come and shop.”
Live music is scheduled for both days, including rock, pop and blues performers. These include the Greg Woodruff Duo, Amber Lynn & the Low Tide Band, Nadya Borno and the Paul Anthony Band.
Additionally, local artist Alyssa Marie will be leading a community “Paint-By-Number” experience, where people of all ages can participate in the artwork creation process. Guests will have the ability to help paint two canvases featuring popular Florida birds, the Roseate Spoonbill and Blue Heron. To pre-register, visit this link.
A pet fashion show, featuring dogs from Fluff Animal Rescue, is scheduled Sunday to encourage adoption.
It will be hosted by Tayler Ricki Sallee, owner of fashion design and alteration company Tailor Sallee, and Mikel Soulhop of Neon Dreams Productions. Sallee has designed outfits for the animals and their handlers.
The festival will also have a children’s zone with arts and crafts projects and games.
Supporting nonprofits is another key aspect of Shopapalooza, Venouziou added. LocalShops1 established partnerships with the St. Pete Youth Farm and Jump for Kids a few years ago.
Jump for Kids, which offers youth fitness plans and programs, oversees the Beer Garden section of the event, she said. It will feature selections from 3 Daughters Brewing and Mastry’s Brewing Co. All proceeds are donated to the organization.
Additionally, 30 vendors are offered the ability to set up earlier if they make a $150 donation to Live Love St. Pete, which provides resources to underserved children.
The event, which is free to attend, will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
Here's the Shopapalooza Festival website .
