Starting in July, Stay will host a monthly makers market at Hershey History Center

The lawn in front of the Hershey History Center will be the setting for our outdoor Makers at the Museum makers market.

With the opening of our permanent store at the Hershey History Center, we’ll be traveling to fewer pop-up events.

Instead, we’ll be hosting them on a regular basis.

Beginning July 21, Stay will offer Makers at the Museum, a makers market held on the third Sunday of the month, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

We’ll be outside on the history center’s lawn from May through October and inside the history center’s community room in November, January, February and March. Makers at the Museum will be off in December and January.

Helping people find us

When I first planned Stay in 2017, I assumed that the bulk of our sales would occur online. The reality is that we have built Stay the old-school way, barnstorming from show to show, hundreds of them in all manner of settings: baseball stadium and hockey rink, parks and parking lots, bridge and barn, breweries and shopping malls.

We are forever indebted to recurring pop-up series such as Market on Chocolate in Hershey, Harrisburg Flea, York Flea, Creatively Lancaster, Forty Elephants in Lancaster, The Find: York, Pop Up Ave in State College, Odd Ones Bizarre in Harrisburg.

Central Market in York welcomed our solo appearances almost since our inception. We’ve joined dozens of other talented makers at annual events such as Hershey Artfest, Choctoberfest in Hershey, Market of Curiosities in Carlisle, Marietta Day.

We plan to participate in a limited number of pop-ups going forward, but our store and Makers at the Museum will be our primary focus.

We have some experience hosting makers events: one summer and one Christmas at the Cocoa Beanery in Hershey, two Decembers at the Englewood in Hershey (and a third on Dec. 8).

We absolutely love our new space and its proximity to heavyweight draws Tanger outlets, Troegs and Hersheypark, but it’s going to take some time for people to find us at the rear of the property.

A monthly makers market will introduce many people to the history center property for the first time, I’m sure. That will be good for us and for the history center.

Too many people aren’t aware of what a gem the history center is, from its museum to its archives to its event space. We want to help change that by regularly bringing more people to the property.

Vendor application available

Of course, we also want to boost our maker friends. We are a tight-knit community, and I feel a deep responsibility to deliver a great forum for them to present their talents and wares.

Some of the vendors will be familiar to anyone who has shopped at Market on Chocolate, which was cancelled this year because of anticipated construction in the park where it is held.

We can’t replace the frequency of the weekly Market on Chocolate, but we hope that Makers at the Museum helps to fill some of that void.

The July 21 event will feature 20 to 25 makers, Perry Pie Co.’s pizza food truck and Shy Bear Brewing. For the public, parking and admission will be free.

After years on the road, we look forward to enjoying our new home and welcoming shoppers and makers alike to it.