TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Spring finally sprung at the Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair in Tucson!
From the tasty food to the eclectic music to the diverse amount of small businesses, it was an opportunity for all of Tucson and Southern Arizona to come together.
The street fair also benefitted many small businesses from Southern Arizona and even some that came from across the country.
Owner of Rozegrave, Taylor Graves, transforms cigar boxes into portable electric hand drums.
“I love seeing the looks on people’s faces when they see what these do for the first time,” Graves said.
It was his first time selling at the street fair and it was helping him to build a lot of contacts for his online sales.
“We’re getting in-person sales which is absolutely rewarding right now, getting to connect with people one-on-one and show them what they do, what these instruments do,” Graves said.
However, the creativity at the fair didn’t just stop at music.
CZ Gifts owner Collette Ziegler was also creating a lot of buzz with her candles and products made out of beeswax.
“I really like the one-on-one with people. I like to meet them face to face,” Ziegler said.
She said she didn’t mind that customers weren’t “minding their own beeswax”. She’s been selling at the street fair for about eight years and said her online sales could go up about sixty percent after.
“So many people that walk through here, I’m able to give them information about my business, explain my business,” she said.
Some businesses like Paper Cut even travelled from across the country.
Paper Cut owner Kim Nickens came all the way from Portland, Oregon to sell her pictures made of tiny rolled up colored pieces of paper.
“These shows are incredible opportunities for people to come out and meet the artist as well as us getting to meet our customers,” Nickens said.
She said that’s not something she usually gets to do at galleries she sells at.
“Exposing people to a new form of art is great and it does increase my sales,” she said.
Coming from near or far, people said the street fair was a good way for people to get together in Tucson.
“You bond over the same thing…everybody just wants to get out and have a good time with their families…just good vibes,” Tucson resident Melina Parsons said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
