MIDLAND For 14 years now, SoBell and Co. and producer of Keeping Good Co. Brandy Bell has aimed to spotlight female-owned businesses from around West Texas at the Fall Marketplace.
This year, the annual event returns beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday and finishing up Saturday at Little Teeny Farm located at 4405 Cardinal Lane in Midland.
This year, the Fall Marketplace will host over 30 businesses owned by women as well as local authors.
“We’re super excited,” Bell said. “This is our seventh year to have it here out at Little Teeny Farm.”
Before the Fall Marketplace moved to Little Teeny Farm, Bell said it took place at a variety of different places and was much smaller.
“We have grown,” Bell said. “It looks like the weather is going to be amazing and feel like fall. We have our same all-female market crew. We have 30 female vendors. They have everything from natural bath products to boutique clothing. We have husbands that come out and support them as well. We have some young entrepreneurs, our youngest of which is 4 years old. She will have her mad science kits. A few of these girls have been coming here for a couple of years. It’s been fun watching them grow their own businesses and even change businesses.”
When she started the Fall Marketplace, Bell said she wanted a spot where female entrepreneurs could help build their businesses.
“As a female entrepreneur for the last 25 years, I just really wanted to create space where women could grow their business without pressure and to be able to really have a safe place to come out and just discover who they are and what they want to do,” Bell said. “That’s one of the fun things.”
Bell founded her multimedia production company SoBell and Co. in 2012.
This year, her new television series that she produces called Keeping Good Co. began airing its first season.
Keeping Good Co. is a hospitality and design television show filmed throughout West Texas and based out of Midland.
The show airs each Thursday at 1 p.m. on KWES-TV (channel 9) and on YouTube.
The main focus of the show is community involvement, portraying the giving heart of West Texas people and values while entertaining viewers with DIY projects, hospitality inspiration, gardening tips, party planning, cooking and baking, travel and more.
This year, the Marketplace will help benefit the Midland Children’s Rehabilitation Center.
“Each episode, our heart is to serve someone in a really simple way like ‘How can we come together as a community to really show a person or organization that they’re important to us?’” Bell said. “That’s the heart of the show and the heart of the market. With the market, it’s a lot sweeter because yes, we’re coming together to show Midland Children’s Rehabilitation Center that we appreciate them for what they’ve done for the community and we’re excited to support. But even more than that, we’re getting the opportunity to tell these women entrepreneurs that they are important to our community and that their small business matters.”
The Fall Marketplace will kickoff with a “Neighbor’s Night” from 7-9 p.m. The night will include live music from Angel and the Badmen.
“They’re amazing,” Bell said of Angel and the Badmen. “First off, they’re all from West Texas. They wrote the theme song for the TV show and it’s an amazing theme song. They have a heart for the community. Having them come out and play for the community, people are going to love them. They’re apart of our show in many ways so we love that we’re getting to share that with them.”
Thursday’s event will also include a Frolic and Frizz Mobile Bar and kitchen by Laurie Food Truck.
Tickets are $10 per person and are now on sale at tinyurl.com/mrxurkzb.
“It’s going to be beautiful,” Bell said. “We’ll have cantina lights and hay and pumpkins and cider. It’s going to be really magical.”
100 percent of the proceeds from ticket sales for Thursday night will benefit the Midland Children’s Rehabilitation Center.
From noon-6 p.m. on Oct. 14 and 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. Oct. 15, the weekend events will offer free photos with a fall backdrop, a scavenger hunt, an apple cider station, giveaways, women-owned vendor booths and more.
Friday and Saturday’s events are free to the public. 10 percent of all market items purchased will also benefit Midland Children’s Rehabilitation Center.
The first Fall Marketplace had just one vendor along with Bell.
“It was one lady selling earrings,” Bell said. “It was me teaching DIYs and I had hors d’oeuvres. We used the money to help a mom send a kid to camp. The next year, I had two vendors and I taught some more DIYs and the next year we had five and we helped someone with adoption fees. Each year, it’s grown. Then we moved out here to Teeny Farms, we have acreage and space and I told my husband that we can be a lot bigger than we used to be so the first year out here we had 15.”
More information about Keeping Good Co. can be found online at https://tinyurl.com/mr2t8jdb.
If you go
- What: Fall Marketplace.
- When: Noon-6 p.m. Oct. 14 and 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. Oct. 15 (Neighbor’s Night 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Oct. 13).
- Where: Little Teeny Farm (4405 Cardinal Lane in Midland).
- Cost: Friday and Saturday are free. Neighbor’s Night is $10 per person.
- Where to purchase tickets for Neighbor’s Night: tinyurl.com/mrxurkzb
