Boo Bazaar provides opportunity for women-owned small businesses

//Morgan Catencamp speaks to a potential customer at the Boo Bazaar on Oct. 24. Photos by Esteban Fernandez | este.fdez20b@gmail.com

Combine plants and artisanal offerings with trick-or-treating and you get a fun excuse to take the kids out of the house while supporting local entrepreneurs. All while observing health and safety protocols, of course. 

Ensconced behind a leafy wall of green, Morgan Catencamp hawks a swiss cheese plant to an eager buyer that has come to peruse the wares at the booth for her business, Fae Foliage. Despite turnout not being what she expected, Catencamp was happy with the outcome nonetheless. And she has every right to be, since it was her event. Taking a cue from the season, Catencamp led 20 other vendors in organizing a pop-up marketplace they christened the Boo Bazaar on Oct. 24. It was held at RNA Dance Studio in Broomfield. Children picked up candy at each vendor booth while adults perused and even purchased some items. 

“I think the people that did make it were excited to be able to get out and enjoy some normalcy, especially those with children,” she said. “I heard from some people that they were thrilled to just have an excuse to get out of the house.”

Masks and hand sanitizer were in abundance at the event.

What made the event stand out past the artisanal wares and trick-or-treaters though, was the fact that the bazaar elevated female artisans and craft experts. This was by design.

“I think it’s incredibly important for women to support each other wherever we can,” Catencamp said, “given that many of us grew up in a society that often pits girls against each other from a very young age.”

It’s a problem she’s familiar with, having grown up with those expectations on her. It’s a pattern she’s trying to change today though, by being inclusive and supporting the women in her life in whatever endeavors they try to accomplish.

Hence, the Boo Bazaar. Not just a pop-up marketplace, but a place for other female-owned businesses to tackle their own barriers to entry and grow their prospects.

Catencamp’s particular specialty at the bazaar was of the green thumb variety. She, along with a friend, began growing and selling house plants during the lockdown period as a way to make some money. Catencamp was furloughed from her restaurant job when the pandemic began. Her long term goal is to have a brick and mortar space where she not only sells her own plants, but also hosts and features other small, local businesses. 

Check out the photostory below for more.

//Morgan Catencamp shows off the plants she has for sale at the Boo Bazaar she organized on Oct. 24. She created the pop-up marketplace to not only expand her plant business but to also provide a space for other female creators.

//Colette Steiner and Sherry Long maintain a booth with their creations at the Boo Bazaar on Oct. 24. Steiner and Long, both cousins, learned how to work with ceramics from their Grandmother. Steiner has been refining her craft for 50 years. She names each creature statue she creates. Her business can be found at Colette’s Creative Creations.

//House of Vellichor, Kimber Quigley’s embroidery business, provided both examples of her work as well as candy for the kiddos at her booth at the Boo Bazaar on Oct. 24.

//Kimber Quigley threads a needle through a piece of embroidery she is working on at the Boo Bazaar on Oct. 24. Quigley is a fiber artist who uses embroidery and needle felting in her art. She either creates iron-on patches or fastens her pieces to a wooden hoop so the entire work can be hung from a wall. Her business can be found at HouseofVellichor.com

//Bethany Mounce, owner of Succ it Down Succulents, keeps watch over their booth at the Boo Bazaar on Oct. 24. Mounce and Morgan Catencamp both created their own plant businesses during the lockdown.

//Haley and Carson Stolper brought their children, Tina, Gina and Lena in full costume to the Boo Bazaar on Oct. 24. The event had trick or treating for the kids and artisanal crafts for the adults.

//A woman and her baby pause to admire the plants for sale at the Boo Bazaar on Oct. 24. Twenty vendors collaborated with Morgan Catencamp to create the Bazaar. Various craftwork styles were represented, from horticulture, embroidery, jewel making and sculpture.