MY STORY:

Urban Flea Market creates community for locals

MY BLOG:

I have always had a passion for thrifting and shopping locally. In summer I love getting up early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to attend garage sales, flea markets and swap meets. When brainstorming for my enterprise story I wanted to focus on something I was passionate about. A friend of mine told me about his experience attending the Urban Flea Market a few days before and I was immediately interested in attending. 

Once I knew that I wanted to focus on the Urban Flea Market as the main idea for my story, I needed to get in contact with local vendors so that I could ask questions about their experience with the Urban Flea Market. My friend told me about some of his favorite vendors when he was in attendance. After doing some research on the local vendors, I knew who I wanted to interview. Once arriving at the Urban Flea Market it was time to meet with the vendors and take pictures. 

I originally wanted to base my story on how local small businesses were going to be affected with the ending of summer markets. I was under the impression that Oct. 10, 2021 was to be the last chance to attend the market. Once I arrived, I had learned that there would be an indoor winter Urban Flea Market that started in December. 

I had already prepared a list of questions to ask the vendors about how the end of summer markets was going to affect their small business. It was at this time that I had to think on my feet and pivot the topic of my story. After some quick thinking I decided to focus on the community that the Urban Flea Market builds. 

Once I decided to make the focus of my story on the community, I had to think of new questions to ask in my interviews. By making the focus of my story on the community rather than profits, I was able to ask more open-ended questions that sparked insightful conversations.  

Finally after I had conducted all of my interviews and taken my pictures, I went home to go over my notes and listen to the interviews. I typed out my handwritten notes and typed out my favorite quotes from listening to the interviews. It was at this time that I realized I didn’t have as much information or quotes that I thought I needed.

This problem stems from me conducting my interviews at the market. Although I do think this was still a good time to get pictures and attend the market, maybe a different time for interviewing might have been better. Due to how busy the market was and the vendors catering to their customers, it was hard to get the undivided attention of the vendors. I felt bad taking their attention away from their customers to conduct our interview. 

I learned a lot about the writing process while writing this assignment. I had never written any type of journalism piece before so this was a new skill that I was developing. Once I had created an outline for how I wanted my story to flow I was able to craft a story that I was very proud of. This project pushed me out of my comfort zone and it is something I’m happy to have accomplished. 

ABOUT ME:

I am a senior at the University of Utah studying strategic communication. I will be graduating this spring of 2022. After graduation I hope to pursue a career in public relations, marketing or advertising in the fashion industry. I have a passion for fashion and it’s something that I love to incorporate in my everyday life. I fell in love with clothing and thrifting at a very young age when my father and I would attend yard sales and go thrifting on Saturday mornings. I am passionate about sustainability and how it can affect climate change and the environment. I have volunteered with many climate organizations in Utah and I hope to bring my take on sustainable fashion practices to every job that I am involved with. I love the hunt of finding my own piece of treasure and I hope to inspire others to use thrifting as a way to live more sustainably.