The Esperanza Peace & Justice Center is offering up its annual alternative to the commercialization of holiday shopping.
The 36th Annual Mercado de Paz / Peace Market will take place this Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. at the Esperanza Center, 922 San Pedro Ave.
The gathering will bring together artisans from San Antonio and all over South and Central America for a multicultural experience offering handmade wares, live music, food and more.
“Rather than the fast-paced pressure of holiday shopping, the Peace Market offers a slower, meaningful way to support artists directly,” Esperanza officials said in an emailed release. “Attendees are encouraged to meet the creators, learn about their work, and choose handmade pieces that reflect traditions of peace, justice, sustainability and cultural memory.”
More than 60 artisans from San Antonio, Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico and beyond will sell handcrafts.
Esperanza officials said the mercado’s alternative to Black Friday is “rooted in the tradition of open-air markets of indigenous communities, inviting people to gather not as consumers but as community, building bridges through creativity, shared purpose and relationships.”
Handmade goods available at the event will include textiles, jewelry, soap, prints, pottery and folk art. In many cases, the makers themselves will be selling the items, making the market an ideal way to celebrate Small Business Saturday, according to Esperanza officials.
The market also will feature several new local artists this year, including Mauro de la Tierra, Ink and Wire Gifts, Peace Offerings and Vikky Jones Art.
The full calendar of live music throughout the weekend will include Conjunto Heritage Taller, DJ Heavy Flow and Alyson Alonzo, Grupo Tan Tan, Funk-O-Matic, poet Andrea “Vocab” Sanders, multiple mariachi performers and more. The full lineup is available on the Esperanza Center’s website.
An hourly raffle will also be announced between musical acts, giving shoppers the chance to win handcrafts donated by the market’s artisans.
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