Movers and Makers: Meet the Mafia

The Market Mafia is a resource for anyone with a passion for local handcraft markets. From the vendors to the visitors, Market Mafia was established to keep the people of Greater Tampa Bay in the know. Using the interactive website marketmafia.com, Market Mafia informs the Bay on what to expect from upcoming events, Lakeland to Sarasota. The tool lets visitors know what markets are happening, when and where.

The Faces Under the Fedoras

I’m Tara Britton, Co-Founder of Market Mafia and author of the Green Bench Monthly column Movers & Makers, highlighting the goings-on in the world of St. Pete makers, markets, and our small business community. Myself and fellow Co-Founder Kimberly Rydinsky are the “bosses” of the Market Mafia operation, but readers may be disappointed to hear there are no gangsters, goodfellas, godfathers or otherwise sketchy characters in our crew.

As lovers of all things local, we enjoyed hitting handcraft markets together for years before launching our site in 2016. Kim and I shared a love for decorating our homes with local finds, eating fresh bites from food trucks, meeting the makers, and gifting those around us with things unique to our area. Jokingly calling ourselves the Market Mafia, we hit the markets, most often hidden under the brim of a fedora. It wasn’t long before we found ourselves commiserating the lack of a one-stop-shop resource to find local markets. Just like that, or bada-bing as they say, our website was born.

For Visitors and Vendors

The common confusion is that we organize local markets ourselves, but we don’t. We share event details for all of the markets happening around the Bay. Luckily for us, we live in an area that supports local, and that trend is only gaining momentum. During peak market season, which is fall to spring, we’ve had as many as forty events in one week on our event calendar!

We aim to be all-inclusive; all recurring, verifiable markets are welcome on our site. You no longer need to follow each and every individual market group to know what’s happening and when; we follow them all for you. You no longer have to go into an event blind, without any idea what to expect when you arrive. Gone are the days of being in the dark with what markets are occurring around town; those days are sleeping with the fishes, as they say.

Our effort to build awareness about our creative community is one that’s wound up benefiting both visitors and vendors. The original intent for marketmafia.com was to help shoppers like ourselves find events to attend, but it’s grown into a useful resource for vendors. Some of our most meaningful feedback has been from makers who have used our site to find new opportunities to apply for markets they were unaware of and showcase their brand, increasing sales and exposure.

The site was launched with ease of use in mind. User-friendly filters make searching our calendar simple. It’s as easy to use on a mobile device as it is on a desktop. Market Mafia also offers an emailed monthly newsletter regarding upcoming events worth hitting.

On the Horizon

Our mob continues to grow, and with it, our reach. Market Mafia recently gained a key team member, Rachel Freeman, Content Creator and Social Media Manager. With newfound motivation and our continued passion for the makers community, Market Mafia is excited to launch new projects this fall. Our website will now feature the chief markets in Jacksonville and Miami, in addition to Greater Tampa Bay. The Market Mafia brand will also unveil a print and digital “Hit List” guide to some of the Bay’s best within the local market circuit, including features on: makers, food trucks and more.

Prime market season kicks off in October. St. Petians can celebrate the return of some local favorites, and on the same day. Both the Saturday Morning Market and St. Pete Indie Flea Street Market reopen October 6th.

Join the family. Don’t expect a seedy initiation, but a warm welcome from fellow local lovers. If you’re already a mafioso, we thank you for your support. Visit marketmafia.com to view our calendar of upcoming markets around Greater Tampa Bay and follow us on Instagram @themarketmafia. We love to repost our followers who #HitTheMarket with us, so use the hashtag to share your: finds, family, and participation in the shop local movement.