First ever Flea Market coming soon to Cruz Plaza

The Cruz Market, sponsored by the Student Government Association (SGA), will host a series of vendors on Friday, April 13 from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Cruz Plaza.

Last semester SGA Senator Michael Smith introduced the idea to have a market on Mercer’s campus that is similar to the Mulberry Market.

This semester, the event organizers Daniela Acosta and Rebecca Braun have been developing the idea as well as working with Campus Life.  

They also met with other local businesses such as NewTown Macon and Mulberry Market vendors, to tell them about the event and get the community of Macon involved in the market.

“I’ve enjoyed making connections with both student and local entrepreneurs, and giving them the opportunity to expose their product and increase customer base,” Acosta said.

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The Cruz Market will be selling coffee, skin-care products, hand-made cards, paintings, crochet items, art, jewelry and handmade scarves, as well as other products from Mulberry Market vendors and other Macon sellers.

The goal of the market is to provide students and locals with the opportunity for an interactive market experience.

“We want their (products and services) to gain exposure, we want them to build new relationships and connections and, above all, we want to further expose these people’s gifts and talents,” Acosta said.

So far there are nine vendors who have signed up to be at the market but Acosta said they are expecting several others who are both students and Macon locals.

Shane Buerster, the founder of Z Beans Coffee and a former Mercer student, will be one of the vendors at the market. He said he plans on doing a lot of promotional offers and handing out as many samples of his coffee as possible.

He is “hoping for students to have time to chat more about the product” and to get more reviews of his coffee.

The Cruz Market was not intended to conflict with the Mulberry Market because it happens every Wednesday and the Cruz Market will be held only once a semester, and on a Friday or Thursday.

“We actually wanted to encourage Mercer students to see the value in getting involved with the local community.” Braun said. “Maybe by doing Cruz Market, we can get more students interested in Mulberry Market as a result.”

The organizers said they plan to have the Cruz Market be a recurring event every semester.

Students can still sign up for the market through the link that was released in Bear Blurbs and also here.