Sunny skies, cool temperatures and bright fall colors provided the perfect backdrop on Saturday, Nov. 7 for a special holiday pop-up boutique, hosted in Oakdale and featuring plenty of vendors.
Coordinated by Hudson Photography and jBloom Designs by Ilda – Ilda Medina – the event drew a large crowd of shoppers and offered photos with Santa as well.
The boutique ran from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.
“I organized it with Tina Lucas,” explained Medina. “I had started selling the jBloom Designs and I did an event in Escalon about a month ago, so many people showed up.”
That made Medina think a similar ‘pop-up’ would work well in Oakdale, especially when combined with the chance for photos with Santa at the Hudson Photography location off River Avenue.
“It has been great,” she said with a smile.
Also, she noted, the vendor fee of $20 – collected from each vendor taking part – will be donated to a local non-profit.
“We reached out to vendors, this kind of helps get the word out about these businesses; many have social media and here, they can get more leads,” Medina explained.
She was especially pleased to see some younger vendors taking part in the Saturday event.
“I love to see these young entrepreneurs,” she said.
Riverbank resident Bionka Zamora, a 2012 Riverbank High graduate, had a table set up with plenty of homemade treats, including popular pumpkin scones, for sale. She also had a variety of cupcakes and cookies at her B’s Smaccn Sweets booth.
“I do this mostly through social media,” she said of her business, which also offers specialty cake decorating.
Meanwhile, cousins Abigail Pereira, 13, of Oakdale and 15-year-old Riley Velazquez of Waterford were busy selling their clay earrings at ‘A & R Earglam’, which they started making as a result of the pandemic.
“We both do sports, I do volleyball and she does soccer,” Riley said, adding that they haven’t been able to play or practice much, leaving them extra time.
So they decided to get creative and settled on designing and making the clay earrings.
“I like making them,” Abigail said, with different sizes, colors and patterns among those for sale.
“You roll out the clay, put designs in it, sometimes we use sparkles, then you put it in the oven and bake it,” explained Riley.
They agreed it is a pretty “easy process” and were enjoying the chance to sell some items at their first show together.
“It all happens in my kitchen,” Nelly Velazquez, Riley’s mom, added. “It’s a great learning experience for them and they have been getting a lot of orders.”
They also have their items for sale in Waterford at Bella’s Salon, at a boutique in Denair and at Foxy Designs in Oakdale.
Other booths featured rustic items, handmade wood cutting and charcuterie boards, Scentsy items, skin care products, flowers, crafts and more. For those shopping, taking photos with Santa, enjoying some food and sweet treats at the various booths on Saturday, it was good to get out into the fresh air, see people and check some names off the holiday shopping list.
“I think we’ve had a great turnout,” said Medina.
