WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — The City of West Columbia has made the Meeting Street Artisan Market online to help vendors during the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 is changing the way people are able to run businesses and interact with people. The virus has postponed or cancelled many large gatherings like Soda City Market, sporting events, and concerts.
Most businesses are not being able to operate as normal and have had to change the way they do things.
The Meeting Street Artisan Market has been cancelled as well due to the coronavirus.
Anna Huffman with the City of West Columbia says there's a lot of vendors who take part in the market.
"We had the Meeting Street Artisan Market and it was supposed to start in April and basically we had about 18 vendors that would come out to Meeting Street Artisan Pavilion on Saturday morning," said Huffman.
Colleen Otte, the vendor manager for the market, came up with the idea to move the market online.
"Now that all of that's cancelled, we came up with the idea that we could do online," explained Huffman. "Basically we don't do anything but facilitate promoting their stores. So it would be anybody that participated in the market or would have and will in the Fall, we've put together their social media pages as well as their websites where people can purchase their goods."
The City of West Columbia has made a Facebook event page with a list of all the vendors and links to their website so people can check out what they have. Some of things you'll find is candles, food, artwork, and other items.
Meanwhile vendors are sending photos of their work to the city so they can post it on social media to promote their business.
The city says it was important to have this opportunity available to support local businesses.
"We want them to be there when we can all get back to normal and have people have the ability to keep selling what they love to do in their art."
"We just want those vendors to still be there so that they can come to the actual market in the Fall. We just want them to stay open and stay in business during this whole thing."
The City of West Columbia will be promoting the market on Wednesdays and Fridays until the end of May. There will be a break during the summer with hopes the market will return on Meeting Street in the Fall.
"They're all locally owned. That money stays local. They're mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers. They're just trying to pay their rent or their mortgage and every little bit helps in what's going on with the economy right now."
The city is encouraging folks to support local restaurants, stores, and vendors while the coronavirus pandemic continues. For a list of resources to support local business at this time, click here.