Holiday market returns, grows at Mount Mercy

The students and vendors at this year's Market on the Mount are hoping to see lots of faces - new and old - doing some holiday shopping next weekend.

The third annual Winter Market at the Mount - a vendor fair which will feature some 60 artisans and vendors - will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 10 in Hennessey Recreation Center at Mount Mercy University.

This kid-friendly event - which also will include hot breakfast options, a visit by Santa, face painting and even stations set up where people can help write holiday cards to active duty military over seas - is organized by Mount Mercy on-campus organization Enactus.

The real world experience the students gain is very valuable, organizers said. 'This is a great learning experience for us,” said Gore Kempf-Heitlinger, senior at Mount Mercy University and president of Enactus who served as the project leader for last year's Market on the Mount and is very excited to see the growth in this year's market.

'It's always great to hear the feedback from the vendors after the market is over and how much they enjoyed it,” Kempf-Heitlinger said. 'I enjoy the organizational side of the market and each year we have the chance to improve the market and make it better.”

Nate Klein, business professor and Enactus adviser at Mount Mercy University, said it's such an enjoyable interaction to watch between the students and vendors.

'The students leading the Market at the Mount event are given a wonderful opportunity to apply skills they have learned in the classroom ranging from project management and marketing to sales and logistics,” he said. 'They get to see first hand the entrepreneurial spirit of our community and experience what it takes to run a small business.”

He noted that at the beginning of the year his students set an aggressive goal to expand the market by 20 vendors and needed to amp up marketing efforts accordingly.

'What makes the 2016 Market at the Mount most special for me and the team is to be able to sell our Sandbags2Handbags to the community,” Klein added. 'The market will be the first chance for people to see the three new Sandbags2Handbags designs to help our community commemorate the flood of 2016.”

This year's market also will be particular unique in that they are bringing in an international vendor from Belize whom they met during a service trip in January and have been working with in building her business since.

Sharondale Humes, owner of Rusticdesignbysharon, lives in the village of Burrell Boom in Belize where she creates handmade authentic eco-friendly Belizean products - out of items collected or recycled from nature - such as coconut shells, seeds, palm and bamboo such as jewelry, picture frames, candle holders, bookmarks and miniature turtles.

She said she is very excited to be participating in the event.

'It is a dream and this is a great opportunity for me to introduce shoppers to Belize and reveal some of my one-of-a-kind Belize designs,” she said. 'I am also very excited to bring exposure to my country and to our authentic Belizean products”

She is also excited to be growing her connection to Mount Mercy.

'Taking part in this fair will not only allow me to market my products,” Humes said. 'It will help me to keep this connection with Mount Mercy University. They have been instrumental in helping me to improve my business.”

Organizers said adding the international element is exciting for them as well.

'I was born and raised in Germany, so for me it is always exciting to have some foreign flavor,” said Kempf-Heitlinger. 'I believe having an international element will make the market unique and more interesting to our visitors.”