As psychedelic folk music swirled through the air on Friday at Richmond’s 17th Street Market, Mary Arritt and J.J. Price discussed leather handbags.
Price, from Callaway, makes them. Arritt, from North Chesterfield, likes them.
“I like anything that’s locally made, regionally made,” she said.
Price, with his wife, Kathy, had plenty of handmade purses, clutches, wallets and other bags on offer. Their business, JP’s Custom Leatherworks, was among 42 from across the commonwealth for the Made in Virginia Market, part of Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s inaugural weekend celebration.
JP’s represented Southwest Virginia, as did Roanoke-based Hmble Hstle Clothing and the Star City’s Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Council. The latter was slinging Girl Scout Cookies. On Saturday, another Southwest Virginia business — Washington County-based Squabble State — had three hard ciders on tap at the inaugural ball.
Kathy Price found information about the event on a website and passed it along to her husband, a Roanoke firefighter who makes his station’s personal protective gear.
“They were looking for Virginia-made stuff,” J.J. Price said, as Richmond band Holy River played live in the background. “And she knows how I am all about American-made. If I can buy American-made hardware, our bags would be 100% American made, but you can’t get it.”
He began making purses when he saw the high prices for name-brand ones that his daughter, then 15, wanted for a present. After he made hers, her friends wanted some for themselves.
“It grew into a real business,” he said as he stood among his handiwork on the market at Shockoe Bottom. He and Kathy Price saw plenty of customers, handed out cards and, they hoped, drummed up some future customers.
“Most everybody that comes in and looks, you know, they didn’t come here with $300 in their pocket to spend,” but the exposure is valuable too, he said.
A few spaces from him, Hmble Hstle’s Xavier Duckett plied his streetwear, including ball caps and bags. Duckett said he learned about the Made in Virginia Market event through Hmble Hstle’s association with the Virginia Tourism Corp.
“It’s definitely an honor to get in front of more people,” he said. “I’m all about the exposure, all about getting smaller businesses more exposure to a diverse walk of life.”
Inaugural ball attendees on Saturday night had dozens of libations to choose from. Three of them, hard ciders Everyday Apple, Commonwealth Citrus and Backyard Berry, came from Squabble State — a name inspired by surveying disagreements of the 1700s where Virginia bordered what is now Tennessee.
Will Payne, who, with Will Clear, owns the orchard and cidery on a 68-acre farm which Payne said is minutes from downtown Bristol and the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, said that Spanberger visited the site Oct. 27 during her campaign’s bus tour, staying to meet the team, learn about production and taste some of what was on tap.
“She asked thoughtful questions about our orchard, how we make cider, and the real challenges small businesses face in Southwest Virginia,” Payne said in an email exchange. “After that visit, we followed up with her team and were proud to be included in the Inaugural Ball as part of a tap wall celebrating Virginia-made craft beverages.”
He said the hard ciders reflect the “unity, fun, affordability and a sincere focus on people” that characterized Spanberger’s campaign. Folks were likely to drink to that at the ball on Saturday.
Reporter Samantha Verrelli contributed to this story.
