INDEPENDENCE, MO — KSHB 41 reporter Claire Bradshaw covers eastern Jackson County, including Blue Springs and Grain Valley. Share your story idea with Claire.
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Some SantaCaliGon Days vendors who lost items, visibility, and revenue when severe weather cut the Labor Day weekend festival short on the Independence Square will get another chance to reach shoppers.
The new Independence Christmas Market will feature exclusively SantaCaliGon vendors this Saturday, Nov. 14, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., inside the Courthouse Exchange event space at 113 West Lexington.
Organizers said the idea came almost immediately after the storm's impact.
"We said, gosh, there's got to be something that we might be able to do," Jeff Rogers, executive director of the Independence Square Association said. "We immediately started to talk to the chamber about, hey, how about, how about something at Christmas time? That's another time when, you know, vendors become, you know, extremely important for people as they look for a unique gift, maybe not something that, you know, is gonna be found in the big box store or on Temu."
Sonshine Apparel on Main Street was among the businesses with a tent set up during the festival.
They saw the weather forecast and tore down early. While fortunate not to lose their product, other businesses were not.
RELATED: Storms shutter Labor Day SantaCaliGon Days Festival
With the festival closing early that weekend, those businesses missed out on extra visibility.
The Sonshine Apparel family is hopeful people show up this time around.
"I'd say come out and support because you, you love all the things SantaCaliGon brings, and that only happens with the people coming and supporting," Jenna Todd said. "So it's good to come out and show support for some of those businesses who maybe didn't get all they were expecting from SantaCaliGon from the community."
The market is a joint effort from Visit Independence, the Independence Chamber and the Independence Square Association.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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