The Village Launch Market returns to West Greenville this Saturday, May 4, continuing its support for women- and minority-owned startups.
Supporters of the Mill Village Ministries program – sponsored by Fluor for the second year – attended a kick-off press conference on Tuesday at the West Greenville Plaza on Pendleton Street. That’s where more than 20 vendors, live music and food trucks will be the first Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., May through December.
“I’m excited for the vendors,” said Jeanette Brewster, program director of Village Launch. “It’s important that people know that they exist and know that they are out here… It’s a longer path to success, and so if we can shorten that curve for them or make it just an easier process, that’s what we hope to do.”
All Market vendors are graduates or current attendees of Village Launch’s business entrepreneurship programs. Five set up shop at Tuesday’s press conference, including Jennifer Spears, founder of The African Violet. Spears has sold her natural teas at the Market since it started in 2021. Since then, her business has grown, and soon she will launch her own mobile tea bar to carry her product around the state.
Spears said support from both Village Launch and the Greenville community has been key to her business’ success.
“It means I have family,” Spears said. “Just a community that supports me… If you don’t have support you absolutely will fail, and I don’t feel – even if I don’t do well at something – I don’t ever feel that I have failed, because I have a community.”
The Village Launch Market plans to remain at the West Greenville Plaza until construction is finished on a new area for the market at the Mill Village offices nearby. Organizers hope that will be ready as early as this fall.
New this year, the Market will also be a destination for Greenville Jazz Fest’s “Jazz Around Town” in June. That means visitors can enjoy the sounds of Jazz while they shop during the June 1 market.
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