Local T-shirt shop badknees and Bloomington Farm Stop Collective transformed their small Kirkwood Avenue parking lot into a festive wonderland Saturday, complete with live music, art vendors and food trucks. The lot was bustling with Bloomington residents of all ages who enjoyed four live performances and 18 vendors selling items such as handmade jewelry and knitted eyeglass cases.
The event, coined the “badknees Holiday Market Experiment” by badknees business owner Jim Beck, is not the first market event he has held.
“I started doing what I call ‘market experiments’ in June, I’d do a once-a-month market outside when the weather was nice,” Beck said.
These monthly outdoor markets were so popular, Beck said he decided to host a night-time event as well. Despite the cold weather, around a hundred people showed up to the parking lot, which was equipped with outdoor space heaters to help combat the December wind.
Attendees circled around the heaters, sipping hot apple cider from the Farm Stop, a farmers’ market and cafe owned by over 60 local farms. As well as offering a variety of hot and cold drinks, the shop also sells fresh produce and meat products, pastries, salsas and more.
Outside, food and drinks were also provided by the Orbit Room, selling hotdogs and alcoholic beverages, and The Crêpe Outdoors, selling both savory and sweet crêpes.
Bloomington local and owner of The Crêpe Outdoors, Kevin Glenn, explained that he was working on Kirkwood Avenue, before the weather got cold.
“I’m trying to find more events through the winter,” Glenn said. “Spring will be Food Truck Fridays that the city puts on at Switchyard Park.”
After trying an Eggy Brecky crêpe, a savory concoction loaded with eggs, ham, cheddar, feta, spinach and sour cream— one of Glenn’s personal favorites — or a classic hotdog from the Orbit Room, attendees could peruse one of the 18 vendors located in the parking lot as well as inside badknees and the Farm Stop. One of these vendors was Violet Bridge Gallery, a family-owned business that sells hand-made crafts, including jewelry and paintings.
Kenton Weaver was one of several family members manning the Violet Bridge Gallery Booth, owned by Monique Proffitt.
“Sometimes we bring in stuff that my grandparents make, like kitchen stuff and what not, and then my little sister does some things, and we just sell family stuff,” Weaver said. “I like selling the prints, mainly because it exposes my older sister because she’s an artist.”
Weaver added that he believes Bloomington is a very inclusive town with a lot to do for local artists and businesses.
“There’s a lot of communities,” he said. “I believe that Bloomington is pretty interesting, and you can really find your place here.”
Over the hustle and bustle of drinks and conversation, four different musical acts serenaded guests, including local artists Step Twins, Prairie Scout Band + Brick Lancaster Duo, Moon News and Nicholas Graham Hall. In between sets, speakers blared popular hit songs while the bands set up.
Weaving in and out of the crowd to check on each vendor and performer was Beck, alternating between working in his store and assisting with the outside vendors.
As for the company name, badknees, Beck explained that it’s simple – people have bad knees.
“My dad had two (knee) replacements, and so I’m probably headed there, but it just kind of seems like this universal acceptance that we all have them, or we’re all going to get them,” Beck said. “We’ve all got something bad going on.”
His company creates an expansive number of designs, most of them relating in some way to Bloomington, which Beck said was intentional. His products include postcards and stickers that read ‘squirrel on a bird’ with the lettering ‘Bloomington, Indiana’, and even a whole merch line for Shalooby’s, a made-up restaurant that has become an internet inside joke.
“I’ve always liked local businesses, especially quirky, unique businesses,” he said. “I feel like I’m trying to, in my own little way, keep that vibe going of a ‘one of a kind’ kind of place with a lot of Bloomington references and a lot of inside jokes that the majority of the world might not really appreciate.”
