Coffee and crafts ranging from fair trade Peruvian textile goods to environmentally-conscience renewable straws and more were the highlights of the College Area Business District’s first ever Make It Market.

The event, held Sept. 8 at Ultreya Coffee & Tea, is a new program of the business district where once a month a different member business hosts pop-up market.

“We are trying to organize something for the community to be able to come out and explore some of our local businesses that they may not be aware are here,” said Evelyn Goodrich, College Area Business District program manager. “So we thought the best way to do it was to organize a little pop-up event to highlight those areas and hopefully bring in the community and maybe even some students.”

In addition to offering residents an exciting event and its member businesses another way to attract customers, the Make It Market also fills a need for local craft vendors.

“We don’t have a lot of markets going on specifically in this area, there are some going on in La Mesa or around Mission Valley, but here there wasn’t really anything great that vendors could come in so we felt we would create something like that,” Goodrich said.

Dani Lloyd is one of the vendors who participated in the Make it Market. Her business, Thatcher House, makes and sells handmade baby mobiles and she recently moved to the College Area from Alaska.

“This is a great way to get out and meet people here in our little local community,” she said, adding that she hopes to vend at as many Make It Markets as she can. “It’s nice to get out in our own neighborhood rather than going to North Park or somewhere else.”

La Mesa resident LeChone Wright of Le-Le Essentials makes handmade jewelry with a mix of gemstones and porous lava rocks that soak up essential oils. The Make It Market was her first time vending in College Area.

“For vendors and small businesses, it is always a matter of do I do well in that area, that space or that arena. So that’s kind of what I’m looking for today, see what the traffic is like, see how well received healing jewelry stones are in this area,” she said.

To attract vendors to the markets, Goodrich said they put the word out through places like San Diego Made and other vendor lists. Finding vendors for the first market was made easier because Ultreya Coffee had hosted several pop up markets on its own before the business district approached them to host its first Make It Market there.

“I think the idea kind of stemmed from the ones I had already been doing and I already have a big vendor base,” said Ultreya Coffee & Tea owner Danielle Riggins.

Riggins said it was “cool” that the Make It Market brought in some new vendors to her shop and also offered some advice to other businesses interested in hosting future Make It Markets

“The market should take on who you are as a business and reflect what you represent,” she said. “I always look for small, local artisans — if the kind of vendors at the market lines up with what your business is, it’s a real good thing.”

The next local business that will get a chance to make a “real good thing” with a pop up market is Black Market Brewing. The brew pub at 4800 Art St. will host the next Make It Market on Tuesday, Oct. 8 from 3 to 7 p.m.

Where the Make It Market trial run at Ultreya was a chance for an intimate market with a few vendors, Goodrich said the next one will be a chance for growth.

“The next market we hope will be a bit bigger,” she said. “We’ll be set up outside Black Market and of course we’ll have more space there with their larger parking lot. We hope to bring in a few more vendors to make it just a little more exciting.”

Goodrich said vendors and businesses interested in taking part of future Make It Markets should email her at [email protected].

Businesses that host the market must be members of the College Area Business District and have permission from property owners and proper insurance. Vendors need to apply and pay a nominal $35 fee — about half of what other markets charge.

“For us, the College Area Business District, it is not about making money off vendors as it is to give them the opportunity to get their products out there to this part of San Diego,” Goodrich said.

For more information about the Make It Market and other programs of the College Area Business District, visit collegeareabid.com.