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As you may or may not have heard, on December 8th The Frontier will be hosting our 2nd annual Mistletoe Market during Happy Hour. This year we have beefed up the event, making it bigger and better!

First we have extended the event (and Happy Hour) to be from 4:00pm-7:00pm. And, speaking of Happy Hour, we will be serving both beer AND wine this week. As a wine drinker, I am pumped! If you’re hungry, Greek Gussy’s and Barone Meatball Company food trucks will be on location to fix that. We have also tripled the amount of Makers, ranging in items from photography and pottery to air plants and bow ties. In lieu of charging these vendors a booth fee, we have asked each to donate 15% of their profits to Triangle ArtWorks, a non-profit organization housed right here in The Frontier whose mission is to provide services, support and the resources necessary to cultivate a vibrant creative community within the Triangle.

This year, I wanted to dig a little deeper into our Makers and really get to know them. On their applications I asked really hard hitting questions like “What is your theme song?” and “What is your favorite spot to eat in The Triangle?” While I got some great new jams to listen to and delicious eatery options, I still wanted to know more!

We all excited for December 8th and for you to get to know them, too. To start, we interviewed the minds behind Happy Unicorn Studio, ParMar Media and Quarterhole. Read below for their stories, and click over to our event page for a full list of attending vendors.

Erika Martinez of Happy Unicorn Studio

Q: Are you a single (wo)man operation, or is there a team supporting you?

Erika: My business is a one person operation, so I am the maker and business manager. I am fortunate to be a Maker who works in The Triangle. We have a very strong and supportive Maker community that is always available and willing to provide advice and help. This helps me offset the fact that I am a one person team. 

Q: Describe your business in 5 words.

Erika: Whimsical, Happy, Colorful, Functional and Craftsmanship.

Q: Everyone knows the phrase “Don’t quit your day job” when people talk about their hobbies. What you do have to say to that?

Erika: I quit my day job and it was the best thing I ever did for myself! It was scary and a huge leap of faith but I have never looked back since I did it. Life is too short to not follow your dream. 

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Jeff Wilson of ParMar Media

Q: Do you draw any inspiration from the Triangle in creating your products?

Jeff: Yes, I have quite a few Raleigh maps that I have created to sell in my shop and then I have a couple that I did as a donation to the SPCA for them to use at a silent auction.

Q: How did you choose the name for your business?

Jeff: The name is a nod/tribute to our dog Marley. We got her from the SPCA and she was the only puppy out of her litter to survive parvo.  While she was recovering at the SPCA she caught parvo again.  Parvo is extremely deadly to puppies and for her to survive it once was incredible, but to survive twice is pretty epic and it speaks to how stubborn she is.  Par came from Parvo and Mar came from Marley.  I made a joke and called her parvo pup and that changed to parmar. I don’t call her that, but when it came time to pick a name I went with that because it makes me laugh (I guess I have a dark sense of humor) and it was a short name that would still be available as a website url.

Q: What is one piece of advice you have for someone looking to become a “Maker”?

Jeff: If you have the time or the passion, do it and don’t give up.  I am the perfect example…I gave up on being artistic/creative when I was a child because there is a hand tremor condition that runs in my family that I unfortunately inherited.  It prevented me from being able to draw or do anything artistic and it turn out looking good because my hands would shake the entire time, so I just gave up.  When I decided to start doing this I found that it was kind of like an outlet for me to creatively express myself.

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Tricia Robson of QuarterHole

Q: How did you choose the name for your business?

Tricia: QuarterHole-because you use a quarter instead of a bean bag like in cornhole.

Q: Everyone knows the phrase “Don’t quit your day job” when people talk about their hobbies. What you do have to say to that?

Tricia: I’ve been blessed to be able to go down to working part time 3 years ago and at the end of the year, I will be leaving my part time job to be able to focus even more time on QuarterHole.

Q: Ever sold your items to anyone famous or noteworthy?

Tricia: There’s a local magician, Joel Givens, who does shows in Vegas. He bought a couple of custom designs from us.

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