LOCAL small businesses found an oasis of support in Garapan during Mini Night Market on Wednesday, Aug. 23.
The event is a collaboration between GIG Nightclub Oasis and Local Girls Marianas, a local event planning organization.
The cofounders of Local Girls Marianas said the night market is an attempt to help local small businesses make a name for themselves in the community.
“One of the main reasons I wanted to put everything together is I love working with people and I want everybody to win,” said Ashley Reiko Pangelinan, Local Girls Marianas cofounder. “The community showed up and supported all of us. It gives me more drive to support local.”
Her cofounder and business partner, Tiara Deleon Guerrero, agrees.
“At the end of the day we have to always support local. The economy can be up and down but if you support each other’s businesses we’ll be OK,” Deleon Guerrero said.
“A lot of the small business here are driven by passion, especially the artists. We especially want to create events where they have time and space to show their stuff because most of us don’t have storefronts,” she added.
Aside from helping with the event, Deleon Guerrero and Pangelinan also sold Local Girls Lemonada.
Deleon Guerrero said the lemons, lemonchina, and calamansi used in their beverages come straight from their families’ farms.
Lisa Ficke, the GIG creative director, said the Mini Night Market is an opportunity to showcase what Saipan has to offer.
“I think it’s great — downtown Garapan really needs something to represent the local culture especially since this is the walking district for all of the tourists,” Ficke said. “This is a good opportunity for all the local vendors that make their products and put so much time and energy into it to have an opportunity to really showcase themselves. [Tourists] can go back to their countries and have something from Saipan.”
Cherise Palacios is a small business owner who highlighted her company, Mind2Muscle, a fitness, health, and lifestyle apparel brand.
“We’re trying to show people what small businesses are about — what we bring to our locals,” said Palacios. “We want to bring our locals together to support one another and have some entertainment and good food.”
She was on site selling oversized tees, biker shorts, sports bras, accessories, and more.
Tyler Warwick and Albert Emanonipiy represented Galuti Club, which is their brand of traditional Pacific wooden carved items such as fish clubs, weapons, canoe paddles, and more.
“I thought it was a good opportunity for us to come out and show some of our work and maybe make some money while we’re at it,” Warwick said.
He said Emanonipiy is the main carver who also oversees the products that get sold.
Warwick said Emanonipiy comes from a line of traditional carvers whose work reflects that craftsmanship.
Shania Alvarez was at the Mini Night Market to show the hand-crotched items she made for her brand, Unapologetic.
“People think crochet is just for older people, but I like to make it showy and islandy,” Alvarez said. She said as soon as she was invited to take part in the event, she hand-made about 10 tops for the evening. She said orders can be placed on her Instagram pages, (@jubbabobs) and (@naipai).
Mwars, leis, and balloon bouquets were sold by vendors Sakubloom and Marianas Crane.
Sakura Halstead, who owns Sakubloom, demonstrated her mwar-making skills. She invites the community to view the mwars, leis, and other floral arrangements she makes on her Instagram (@_sakubloom_). Halstead said she takes pre-orders that customers can pick up at the Oasis.
Lei Tenorio, Marianas Crane’s owner, was busy next to Halstead, readying balloon bouquet orders.
“I do different crafts,” Tenorio said, adding that it’s fun to show all the hard work that goes into making balloon art. “These [bouquets] seem to be a hit with the kids. I also do origami crane art and I’ll bring that for the next market.”
For community members in need of scented candles, Jiah Iguel’s Candle J Saipan is ready for business.
“All the candles, all the products I make are refillable and ecofriendly,” Iguel said.
“I try to reduce waste so if you have anything that you bought and it runs out, you can bring it back to me and I can refill it,” she said.
She added that she was participating in the market to also support her fellow small business owners.
The Mini Night Market occurs every Wednesday at the GIG Nightclub Oasis lounge, which is the outdoor terrace at GIG. It is a family friendly event with food vendors on site. For adults, the Oasis has drink specials starting at $2.
