On January 26th the next Monthly Market will take place on 11th Street, New York Avenue, and Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown St. Cloud. The event will take place from 5:00 p.m. – 9:00p.m. The pop-up vendors will sell things such as jewelry, art, candy, and other hand-crafted items.

One of the market’s founders, Stephanie Milfeld, said the event started with “a small group of boutique owners downtown who just wanted a reason to bring people (to the area).” At first, they had just wanted a “sip and shop” to bring people downtown to the stores and cross promote. “Oh gosh, I would say maybe fifty people showed up to the first one if we were lucky. Now, we have hundreds that come to the point (where) we can’t even step away to look outside on the street because we are so busy inside the store.” After the first time they had the market, customers asked when the next one would be, and so it was changed to the Monthly Market.

The market grew over time until the city stepped in to help them expand in a safe manner by closing the streets. Milfeld says, “We look at the market as not only a way to promote the downtown as a whole and let people see the great small businesses we have down here, but as businesses, we look at it as a community over competition, we want everyone to grow together … If you can’t find a product with me, I want to help guide you to a store or pop-up vendor that can help you find what you need.”

During month of August, the market does not take place because it is a break month. The months of June and July are the Young Entrepreneur Markets for vendors of age 21 and under. Applications to become a vendor and other information is on their Instagram, @downtownmonthlymarket.