Community Feature: Maker Space at The Bowen Street Market, Oshkosh WI

Past a sunny yellow door, adjacent to a sprawling labyrinth of craft and vintage booths, a unique space is filled with art supplies, crafting tables, salvaged decor and furniture, and evidence of creativity unleashed. Ashley and I start our interview admiring each other's colorful handcrafted earrings, and then sit down at a huge paint splattered table to discuss the origin of The Bowen Street Market and its maker space.

SteadGoods: "So tell me how long the maker space has been here, and what kind of inspiration and motivation did the space come from?"

Ashley: "The maker space portion of our location was always intended to become a community maker space, but it waited until after we got the craft market and vintage market portion of the store up and running. I believe we opened our Maker Space here at the market in August of 2023...so going on a year and a half, I guess.

Our first rendition of the storefront portion was actually called 'Bowen Street Repeats' and we sold secondhand, salvaged and rescued goods...a giant thrift store really. It was a blast, and it opened in the midst of Covid in 2020, so we could not take donations fast enough. Everyone was home and clearing their junk and clutter. My husband also has a salvage business, and we hated to see usable things go to the landfill.

So 'Bowen Street Repeats' ran that way for about 3 years before we changed directions. The resale shop was so fun, but a lot of work. When I became pregnant very unexpectedly, we knew it would just be too much. My mother-in-law, my best friends and I are all crafters. Many of the friends we had made through the resale shop were artists and crafters searching the second hand salvage goods for materials to create with. It was a no-brainer to transition to a consignment based model, and to let the vendors fill up and arrange the space instead of us doing all the work day to day.

The vendors of the consignment market also bring a lot to the maker space too. Many of the people creating and selling in the market space are also using the maker space to host events, workshops, classes, kids crafting days...lots of variety. "

SteadGoods: "So is use of the maker space is based on a membership or rental situation?"

Ashley: "The maker space is actually not limited to any sort of membership or rental. It can be reserved on a first-to-claim it basis, and has been used for more than just creative classes. We've hosted birthday parties, retirement parties....we plan our own parties for holidays or for store promotion here too. Sometimes we extend the shopping hours so that people can attend the events and then head over to the vendor booths to shop. Its a lot of fun. Very casual."

SteadGoods: "How full is your calendar generally? With classes and events and things?"

Ashley: "It varies with the season and the time of year...whether or not I get events planned. It pretty common to have months with 4 or 5 events or workshops scheduled. We were recently creating slideshows of our classes to showcase what we've all done, and we realized that we had the the 100 class mark already. Its way more than we realized."

SteadGoods: "Wow, I did not realize how plentiful your class and event schedule was. It really feels like even more than being a maker space, its a general community space for those who use it too."

Ashley: "Absolutely. I don't feel like we have done a great job yet of getting the word out and letting people know that individuals who aren't vendors here can use it, but that's something I want to do better with. I want to create more of a community presence for this space in Oshkosh...help people know what we are doing and that its available for use."

SteadGoods: "Tell me a little bit about the vendor consignment side of the market."

Ashley: "When we started out, we actually called the place "Bowen Street Makers" rather than "Bowen Street Market", as we thought it would be strictly makers and artists. But a lot of our vendors also love unique vintage pieces, and there was a lot of interest in mixing vintage reselling with crafts, so we adjusted the vision a little bit.

We started with filling about half of the space we have now, which was about 60-65 vendors. We ended up with a wait list of almost that many, so we acquired more space in the building to utilize and we now have between 100-120 vendors here. We rent spaces that are very large...maybe 10x20 feet, and also spaces for smaller goods like your earrings: maybe 3x5 spaces...and they are priced accordingly."

SteadGoods: "That growth is so incredible. It also sounds like all of the businesses you and your husband have pursued tend to have this sustainability, ecological side of it. Would you say so also?"

Ashley: "100% yes. You hit the nail on the head. When Kevin got started doing salvage, he did it because when his grandmother died, the only real option was to get a dumpster and spend multiple weekends in a row sending all her stuff to the landfill. But we knew there had to be another option, so his crew will now come in and take care of things out of estate homes and such. They donate usable items...real donations, to places and charities that won't charge people for them. They properly recycle items that cannot be donated. And any art stuff, materials, items that could potentially be used for crafts, or furniture or decor that we need or want for the maker space ends up here.

I literally receive all this stuff for the maker space for free. Either leftovers from other makers, or from the salvage business. Paintbrushes, new and used canvases, scissors, hole punches, tables, pencils, paint...its mostly organized * laughs*.

Once I was brought a huge bucket of corks. I sat down and figured out all kinds of crafts to do with those. We made little bugs with kids, wind chimes, animals. I try to coordinate it with the season. A lot of the time, our kids classes and things like that can be offered for free because we really didn't pay for the materials. And that's what we want to have happen, we want to benefit everyone involved. It doesn't just have to benefit the store or ourselves. We even donate to the vendors sometimes so that they can keep their costs low and thereby help the community purchase their art at lower prices."

SteadGoods: "How do you share about your events and classes? How can people find out about those?"

Ashley: "We have a website that I post them to. We are on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, so I am pretty active trying to get the information in front of people. The Discover Oshkosh people are pretty awesome in helping local businesses get their information out on their events website. We also provide flyers in the store, and showcase prior and upcoming classes on our TVs when you walk into the vendor booth space.

This spring I am planning a St. Patrick's Day event, we have some classes that are on the calendar. Also we are going to do some outdoor pop ups too...I don't have dates on those yet. Think flea market booths out in the grassy part of the property. We did one last year and it was a huge hit!"

SteadGoods: "We have talked about this space being a community space in addition to 'just' a maker space. Can you tell me why you feel like that community aspect is so important?"

Ashley: "Oh my gosh. I mean, I think creativity is so important in general. Even if its just for your own mental health. Think about how authentic you are being when you are being creative. How peaceful and zen-like that is for you brain.

Also, spaces like this also bring in like-minded people. The artists, the crafters...this is an environment that draws them. Even if you just like to purchase from creative people, there is something about the collection and curation of vintage, salvage, crafts and art that is an art form of its own. You can find all these friends here because they are all drawn to being involved in these kinds of spaces and activities."

SteadGoods: As we finish up, is there anything you want to share with readers about the market, your vision for it and the maker space, or just yourselves?"

Ashley: "Just that you should absolutely shop local. And handmade, especially these days. It makes such an impact on your local community, more than people realize it does. Even just one purchase can bring so much joy and benefit to a vendor, and some of these vendors depend on this income for their livelihood...so those purchases make a huge difference in their small businesses.

These individuals spend time curating and creating, and knowing that someone saw and loved an item they put in their booth enough to buy it is an awesome experience. There are so many special pieces and items here. So yeah, 'buy local'!"

Learn more about The Bowen Street Market at their website (bowenstreetmarket.com) and on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.