Located on the outskirts of Orlando lies a community that appears as if it was designed to host a Disney channel original movie, specifically a Halloween movie. This little community is known as Avalon Park, and this past Saturday, the community square hosted a Halloween themed vintage market, named Halloween Town.
This market was from 11 AM to 5 PM, and saw a wide range of visitors from families on a day trip to couples on a date styling fall fashion.
Surrounded by smiling Jack-O-Lanterns, were rows of vendors selling their autumn merchandise. Vendors’ stands included handmade candles shaped like ghosts and skulls, ghosts with cowboy hat stickers, trinkets upon trinkets, Halloween-themed wood signs, custom made coasters, handmade candycorn, witch hat earrings, and several bracelet and charm stands. Despite being a vintage market, less than half of the vendors sold vintage clothing, but more vendors sold new boutique style items.
Following along with the Halloween Town theme, some highlights of the market included a flower shop out of an old Volkswagen van with a fake skeleton in the drivers side, a local coffee shop selling pumpkin spice lattes, various options for Halloween face painting, a bakery selling fall treats, and in the center of the community was pumpkin painting!
One vendor, Cardozo Alejandro, who runs the booth Slice Night, is part of an independent film team that believes being a vendor in Orlando allows “[them] to find [their] audience, which has been nice to find little niches and other spooky people.” When asked how being a part of the local community is beneficial to the business, Alejandro speaks on behalf of Slice Night, saying they “hope to inspire children to pursue the arts, because if you build enough inventory and skill and talent, you diversify your product between visual art and 3D art. You are able to fund your passion through being a part of the local community, build a bigger community, and spread empathy through the world.”
Another vendor, Rossmaury G, from Lune Studios says that it is their first time at a market, but despite their nerves, the “energy, the vendors, and the people are really nice and it has been an amazing experience.” He alsp states that participating in local markets benefits the community because “this is a big platform for everybody to sell and expand their business, and for us to grow our business by giving little gifts to our customers.”