The Brookland Exchange Maker’s Market

By Amanda McShane

The Brookland Exchange Maker’s Market took place on the Brookland Arts Walk Thursday, September 20 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. bringing the Brookland and Catholic University community together. It was vibrant event with dozens of Washington D.C. vendors. The Monroe Street Market apartment complex management company, the Bozzuto company hired bands for the event. One of the bands who performed is named, Sehal, from Dance Place. Busboys and Poets provided poetry readings. Catholic University’s Center Stage and Redline Acapella performed later on. Catholic University students came by to support their friends and families came by bringing their children and dogs. The two food trucks there were Lattimore’s Funnel Cakes and Arepa Zone. Food vendors like Bri’s Brookland Creamery set up big colorful tents in the center of the Art’s Walk. Face painting was available for the families who came. Something else that attracted the crowd was the Brookland Pint Oktoberfest.

The Brookland Exchange Maker’s Market was coordinated by Marcella Kriebel, an artist on the Brookland Arts Walk.

“I am a person that sells what I make for a living,’’  Kriebel said. The coordination and planning of the event was a huge undertaking. “It took a couple months and maybe even more than that honestly,” Kriebel said.

“The idea was to welcome additional guest vendors and have an evening where we can all work together. Kribel said “The landlord was really supportive. We had a core group of five people helping and a dozen volunteers.” In total, there were 44 small creative businesses which consisted of the artisans on the Arts Walk and vendors from the district. Vendors started coming around 2:30 p.m. to set up and the event got wrapped up around 10:30 p.m. The production team who helped her make the event happen was made up of Quoc Tran, a Catholic University alumni, Jason Bowers, Bradley Johnson and Bernadette Brantt. Tran, who has been working for Marcella, said the first meeting of planning was July 17, 2018. It was not an easy process. Mr. Tran said, “There was a lot of email correspondence and we had a meeting once a week.” Tran went on to say, “what made it work was that we all worked independently and ran our own departments. Instagram was a big push for us. Bradley and I did live videos.” They not only used social media but also flyers and on the newsletter 7:30.  Ms. Kriebel said, “We were extremely fortunate this time around to piggyback on the event the landlord already produces on Third Thursday. They already had a budget and paid for three bands and two food vendors. The thing that we really lent to the evening were the addition of vendors and increased marketing. It was one probably one of the most successful Third Thursdays that the Arts Walk has ever experienced thanks to Brookland Exchange.” The event overall was to bring the community together. The local residents, Catholic University students and to the district. Ms. Kriebel, “The thing I hope to always achieve is the fact you can get Catholic students here, families, people who live upstairs and folks who are coming all over the district. The other super ideal thing is that we are right next to the metro. To put it on the map as a cultural center.” In the future we want it to be its own event. We will definitely be doing one in the spring.” Marcelle Fozzard, an artist and owner of American Roadtrip Pillows, said, “It is a great way to reintroducing the Arts Walk for folks who haven’t been in a while.”