HUDSON — Basilica Hudson co-presents with creative studio LikeMindedObjects the first ever Basilica Farm & Flea Virtual Market, featuring a diverse selection of over 70 Hudson Valley based businesses, in place of its annual in-person Basilica Farm & Flea Holiday Market. Basilica’s curatorial eye and devotion to the creative community will help provide many participants with the nest egg needed to carry them through the slower winter months.
This Holiday Season, Basilica Hudson will host the virtual market on their website: https://basilicahudson.org/farmandflea/ to access more than 70 clickable vendors and products for purchase directly from each webshop. Additionally, Basilica Hudson will run a promotional campaign on their social media to highlight participating vendors, and will also conduct Instagram Live interviews with a diverse range of business owners. This includes herbalist, activist and educator Lauren Giambrone of Good Fight Herb Co., Tiffany Garriga of Moisturize Me & the Black Entrepreneur Market, and regenerative farmers Freya & Melany Dobson of Hudson Hemp & Treaty.
For the past eight years, Basilica Hudson has held an epic, large-scale community market celebrating the Hudson Valley’s creative entrepreneurial pursuits through the Basilica Farm & Flea Holiday Market. This year, with the pandemic causing all to pause 2020 in-person programming, Basilica Hudson is committed as a resource connecting our community of thoughtful shoppers to Hudson Valley based businesses. During important months for holiday shopping, Basilica Farm & Flea promotes the sustainability of small businesses independent of commercialism.
To help businesses transition to online shopping, and with the support of the City of Hudson Tourism Board, Basilica Farm & Flea Virtual Market hosted an educational webinar and product photography session offered for free to participants. Elise McMahon of LikeMindedObjects led a webinar joined by e-commerce experts Alex Petraglia of the Hudson Business Coalition and Hillary France of Hudson Wylde, as well as photographer Angelina Dreem of Dreem Reality Inc. The goal was to remove the barriers of entry for the local business community, who primarily sell at in-person markets.
The 2020 education workshops and promotion were offered for free for past Basilica Farm & Flea Holiday Market vendors and any Hudson-based businesses, in addition to any partnering organizations hoping to move their products online. Basilica offered workshops in tandem with organizations known throughout Hudson who work with marginalized communities, making direct outreach to include businesses that previously might have felt hindered by vendor fees.
The Basilica Farm & Flea Virtual Market features a wide range of regional vendors selling their wares, from vintage and recycled to locally-sourced agriculture and the beautifully handmade. New vendors include: Essential Charlie, an eco friendly candle; MoisturizeMe, and organic butter product; Paired Candle Bar, candle, diffusers and room spray; Riverside Paws, pet photography; Robert Vintage Home, a curated collection of desirable vintage home furniture; Sarah Mijares Studio, unique ceramic homeware; Glow Juice, a miracle skincare; Studio Taulapapa; Shakespeare’s; CRCL EARTH, creating healthy, sustainable pillows; Hudson Rose Company; and I Am Beauty Story. In addition, Basilica Farm & Flea is offering a custom Basilica Farm & Flea curated gift guide by request.
ABOUT BASILICA FARM & FLEA
Basilica Farm & Flea launched in 2013 as a holiday alternative to Black Friday shopping, with a carefully-selected variety of makers, collectors and farmers harnessing the spirit and beauty of the Hudson Valley. Basilica Farm & Flea Spring Market followed in 2016, forming a dynamic weekend of celebration and acting as an annual bookend to each year’s Holiday Market. With a firm ‘no barcode, no plastic wrap’ ethos, both markets seek to promote the talents and resources within the Hudson Valley and provide an alternative to mass manufactured products. Set against the beautiful, industrial setting of Basilica Hudson’s 1880’s repurposed factory, the market is a perfect way to find an extraordinary array of local, vintage and handmade objects, representing the abundance and splendor of the Hudson Valley. Basilica Farm & Flea is designed to be a locally-focused testament to the Hudson Valley region and its growing abundance of makers and creatives.