By Hannah Rivers
Dec. 8, 2016

There are a lot of things you could do on a Sunday afternoon. You could finish up your holiday shopping, spend time with family and friends, listen to live music or go out for lunch. There are so many wonderful possibilities to choose from. But what if you didn’t have to choose? What if you could do all of these things at the same time in the same place? The answer to this question comes in the form of Love, The Locals — a free shopping event that features handmade goods. Hosted by The Bay, 2005 Y St., the family-friendly event will be held on Sunday, Dec. 11, from 12 to 6 p.m.

Currently run by four people, Love, The Locals was created to help Lincoln shop local. With almost 40 local vendors from all around Nebraska, our community is sure to be provided with the finest handmade goods. And the best part is that it’s accessible in one location. Not only does Love, The Locals seek to celebrate and showcase all that the makers of our state have to offer, but it also aspires to bring them together in one place so that the community can more easily support our local musicians, artists, bakers and businesses.

Sponsored by KZUM, Zipline Brewing Co., and The Bay, this event offers more than a chance to purchase unique handmade goods. There will be sample brews from Zipline, The Gilded Swine and Pepe’s Bistro will have their food trucks set up, and a range of local music will be performed — including Bernardus, Karen Choi, Jenny Heitbrink, Andrea von Kampen and Nation The Band.

In addition to all of these activities, there will be a raffle. The prizes are baskets filled with different goods from the 40 vendors who will be at the event. A portion of the proceeds will go to Food Fort — a nonprofit that provides meals to children in under-resourced neighborhoods. But this organization is not the only one who will benefit from the raffle.

“The raffle is a fun way to get the community involved and allow our makers to give back,” said Machelle Kolbo, who is in charge of the marketing, social media and design aspects of Love, The Locals.

Last year the holiday event was held at Wyuka Stables and the summer series was held at Zipline Brewing. The location changed this year because they have more vendors and so more space was needed. The Bay affords more room for Love, The Locals, but it also offers a stage for the musicians and a coffee area where people can sit while they listen to music and eat treats.

“(The Bay has) such a cool vibe in their space and are doing great things for our community,” said Kolbo.
The main focus of Love, The Locals is, of course, shopping, but the creators of the event wanted to enhance the experience. This is why they incorporated live music: to ensure that the atmosphere of the event is exuberant and entertaining.

“It is a really fun way to support more things local and allow people to hear some local talent,” said Kolbo.

Another part of the experience is the food. According to their website, The Gilded Swine “specializes in sausage and brats that are innovative and locally sourced.” It was established just this year and is run by a husband and wife, Brandon and Becca Fowler — both of whom have considerable experience in the food service industry.
Pepe’s Bistro will also be at Love, The Locals. In business for eight years, the Mexican bistro has moved locations a few times and is now situated inside of Indigo Bridge Books, at 701 P St. Owner Pepito Fierro serves up breakfast and lunch dishes that are vegetarian and/or vegan.

After Fierro was contacted by the organizers of the event to be a food vendor, he jumped at the opportunity.

“All this will be happening in a beautiful venue that just screams community: The Bay,” he said.

He will be using a food bike to serve his delicious fare. It is one of three food bikes that Fierro will be introducing to the Lincoln community come next spring. For those who haven’t heard of them, food bikes are like miniature versions of food trucks.

“I look forward to it as it will be a great practice run and I will be among other small local businesses,” he said.

Not only is Fierro planning to use the food bikes to serve food, but he is also going to use them to teach culinary students and aspiring entrepreneurs what it’s like to run your own business.

With so many talented artists and makers in Nebraska, it was hard for the event organizers to choose which ones would be selected. Vendors must apply for a spot 4-6 months in advance of the event. Out of these applications, the organizers decide which ones will be at the event based on how much space is available and whether there is a good variety of vendors.

The goal of Love, The Locals is to discover new local artisans to support. This event makes it easy to do that because they’re all in one place.

“Lincoln does such a great job loving all things local, and we just wanted to make it fun and easy for them,” said Kolbo.

Currently, Love, The Locals is a biannual event — but the four organizers have dreams of expanding it and making it even better. Kolbo wouldn’t tell me exactly what they want to do, but if what they’re doing now is any indication, it will be awesome.

Find out more information on the Love the Locals website.

Hannah Rivers is one of KZUM’s fall interns.