ORANGE — For those looking to browse some locally made gifts for Valentine’s Day, then get a tarot card reading while their child decorates a picture frame with popsicle sticks, the perfect event is coming up.
Saturday, Feb. 8, “Infinite Love One Stop Shop” will be held at LaunchSpace on the third floor of the Orange Innovation Center, 131 West Main St. The event is from 3 to 6 p.m., and is free to enter.
The Valentine’s Day-themed event will be the first in a series of “pop-up shops” LaunchSpace will hold, giving local artisans a place to show and sell their works, as well as giving the public a place to meet the talented makers living among them.
“We really want to support the creative economy in our region, and we know we have great artists here,” said Brianna Drohen, director and co-founder at LaunchSpace.
The event, in addition to 20 “artist-maker” vendors, will have 10 “healers” — reiki healers, acupuncturists, tarot card readers, a chiropractor and others. There will also be spa services and EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) tapping, an alternative medicine intended to be therapeutic and relieve trauma. The healers will give demonstrations in their respective areas.
“Arts and wellness is really the focus and what we want to support,” Drohen said. “We are getting together a lot of energy healers in the area.”
While there will naturally be many Valentine’s Day gifts and items, Drohen said a diversity of art will showcase locals’ talents. They include flowers, jewelry and chocolates, and also handmade tote bags, pottery, CBD products and information about getting involved at LaunchSpace.
For $15 at a children’s station, youth can spend a half-hour to an hour making Valentine’s Day gifts. A photo booth will be available for children to take photographs that will print instantly, then decorate a photo frame with popsicle sticks and other materials.
Infinite Love One Stop Shop, in addition to LaunchSpace, is hosted by the North Quabbin Trails Association and the Orange Innovation Center.
“We really have a whole team putting things together,” Drohen said. “We don’t really want it to be a mini-festival, but we do want it to be a sustainable model to support the artists isolated in these rural areas.”
The goal is to do pop-up shops at LaunchSpace quarterly, Drohen said, with the next event to be scheduled close to Mother’s Day, but move to monthly events if the idea is a success.
LaunchSpace started a couple years ago as a business incubator and makerspace for entrepreneurs and others to hone their skills in the 10,000-square-foot workshop.
LaunchSpace has hosted a variety of small events and public forums, including for artists, business owners and legislators, and is working on “Phase One” of its business plan — offering metalworking, woodworking, blacksmithing, ceramics, photography and other tools, technology and workshops.
According to Drohen, its pop-up shop series falls right in line with the goal to get new businesses off the ground and small businesses more exposure.
“LaunchSpace is a place for people to go and create, and this is kind of one cog in the wheel of what our long-term goal is,” Drohen said.
In addition to Infinite Love One Stop Shop, more is going on at the Orange Innovation Center on Feb. 8, and Drohen is hoping the community will come and spend the day. Honest Weight Brewery will hold a ramen noodle and beer event from 4 to 8 p.m.
To learn more about LaunchSpace, visit launchspace-orange.com. For LaunchSpace events, and for a full listing of the vendors at the upcoming pop-up shop, visit its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/launchspace/.
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.