Pop-up event draws over 30 vendors

A pop-up event at the Tin Cup in Shafter on Saturday drew over 30 vendors, with a variety of baked goods, jewelry, clothing, homemade beauty supplies and plants.

A positive that has come from the Covid-19 crisis is the emergence of these pop-up events. When the pandemic grew and businesses were shutting down or cutting costs, a lot of people found themselves out of jobs, having their hours cut in half, or laid off until the situation improved.

This made it necessary for residents to find other ways to make money to survive. People use their talents, or passions to create home-based businesses to earn money. This resulted in a growing amount of pop-up events that allowed people to gather to sell their wares at one location.

This has benefited people even now that the pandemic has lessened its impact on the community. Such is the case with Leshly and Tania Moreno, a couple of sisters who started their own home-based business over a year ago. The sisters produce their own candles and bracelets. The candles are in a variety of shapes, from a torso, to a series of balls banded together to make a rectangle.

Leshly said that they buy the materials online and make the items at their home. "It takes us about an hour to melt the wax and put them in the molds, then a few hours after that to let it set."

They can make a bracelet in about an hour, with a great variety of colors and materials to choose from.

Another example of turning a trying time into an opportunity is the case of Haley Plaza. Plaza loved making bread at her house and she turned that passion into money-maker. Plaza has a very popular business that has a big Instagram following and has a line at every pop-up event. She sells loaves of bread, flavored olive oils, and croissants.

Another vendor in attendance was Adrianna Pompa. Pompa was having trouble finding products that wouldn't irritate her sensitive skin. She started researching online and, through trial and error, came up with products that wouldn't irritate her skin and was beneficial to her. She started making the soaps, scrubs, and loofahs and taking them to pop-up events. She has now a display at Sun Country Flowers in addition to the events. She also makes her own jewelry as well.

Even with the pandemic not as threatening as a couple of years ago, and the country opened up for the most part, according to several vendors, the demand for events such as this are not dwindling. "As long as people love to come to these events and there is a demand, we will keep them going and giving communities an option from the big stores," said Amelia Nunez, who was there with her daughter Monica.