WE ARE IOWA / Local makers encourage Iowans to shop local this holiday season

Laryssa Leone, Channel 5

Before you visit Target or Walmart for your holiday shopping, visit the Hand Crafted Holiday Market this Small Business Saturday at Mainframe Studios.

Laryssa Leone, We Are Iowa, Channel 5

DES MOINES, Iowa — Before you visit Target or Walmart for your holiday shopping, local artists and business owners are asking you to invest in the Des Moines community by shopping local. 
Antonio Roddy, known to some as "Tone the Move Maker", is doing just that: making moves. Currently, he's preparing for the Hand Crafted Holiday Market at Mainframe Studios in honor of Small Business Saturday. 

"Holiday Market is a chance for you to see it as a product, more than thinking about the art world, and then more practical uses," Roddy said. 

If you're planning on shopping for holiday gifts in the Des Moines area, Roddy believes you should invest in small, local businesses rather than big box retailers.

"Shopping locally helps build culture around here, which makes Des Moines a destination and increases the value of the city through tourism," Roddy said. "It helps the little guy make it over the hump, man, that's the hardest part."

Siobhan Spain with Mainframe Studios said the event is dedicated to helping out small businesses and local artists.

"It makes a big difference to obviously the artists here that are starting businesses or have successful businesses here," Spain said. 

Spain hopes Des Moines residents plan to make a stop at Mainframe Studios while out and about this holiday weekend. 

"We'll have music and food and, of course, open studios that you can explore in so many mediums here," Spain said. "It's so fun to walk around and meet the artists that are working in their studios, but also part of our community and making it better."

The event runs from 1 p.m. and ends at 5 p.m. The first 30 guests receive free grab bags.
"If you want to get something special for people, you know that nothing you can find at a mall is gonna have the touch of the type of things that we can make here at Mainframe," Roddy said.