Downtown Harlem was bustling with crowds of families Saturday morning and afternoon, as the Harlem Library hosted the third annual Spring Small Business Expo.
This year’s bazaar of local businesses proved diverse with its colorful variety of craft, merchandise and food vendors, along with a petting zoos, face painting and an inflatable bounce house. Sponsoring Harlem businesses Jake’s BBQ and Red Oak Manor provided some concessions, alongside homemade lemonade that quickly sold out.
Elduets Adventures & Events is an amusements business based in Appling that has been setting up shop at the expo since its first launched in 2021. While it doesn’t yet have a brick-and-mortar location, the unique enterprise regularly pitches at farmers markets, festivals, birthday parties and church events throughout the CSRA. Its space next to the Harlem Museum and Welcome Center had its own petting zoo, a nine-hole miniature golf course and even a scaled-down portable escape room.
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“It’s an eight-by-eight room that opens up to an Egyptian tomb,” said owner Robert Steudle, describing the mystery room, in which players act as archaeologists kidnapped by graverobbers who must solve the puzzles to find the key out.
The Elduets booth also featured gem mining, in which participants take mining rocks through a sifter and take home whatever gems they find.
Tierra Bell is the owner of Crafts by Nimbus (“like the cloud,” she said), based in Evans, which sells gifts made with epoxy resin. This year marked her first time at the Harlem expo.
“I just love creating,” said Bell. “I like making people happy and inspiring people; so I decided that I was going to start something new and people don’t do.”
Bell has over 1,000 molds with which she can make nearly any kind of gift a customer may ask for, such as coasters and Disney-themed jewelry boxes (among her biggest sellers). Her booth also displayed handcrafted chess boards, anime-themed items and gift baskets.
The expo has grown from about 25 vendors its first year to approximately 60 this year, said Amber King, the proprietor of Mama’s Sweet Spot Shop and Concessions in Harlem, who coordinated the event.
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“Three years ago, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and those sales, from being shut down, just crashed,” King said. “So I decided to do a small business expo to help those small businesses get exposure, to get revenue and to get themselves back up to where we are today.”
The expo also contributes to non-profits each year, with vendors and entrepreneurs donating items for a raffle. The first year, proceeds from raffle tickets went toward Harlem thrift shop and charity Attic Treasures. Proceeds have also gone toward Project Lifting Spirits, the Evans-based organization that sends gifts, encouragement and support to troops overseas.
This year the raffle proceeds went to homeless service provider Compass of Hope in Augusta.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
