October 6, 2025 • 10 mins
We spoke with co-founder Carolyn Verikas about Bristol Bazaar, an indoor makers market that sells handmade items from small businesses. We talk about the upcoming Pups & Pumpkins Dog Adoption Event, the final traveling bazaar of 2025, and the upcoming partnership with the Connecticut Science Center.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Alison de Murz. My guest this morning is Carolyn Vericas.
She is co founder of the Bristol Bazaar. Good morning,
good morning. For those who don't know about the Bristol Bizaar,
where are you located?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
So we are located in downtown Bristol on Race Street.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
And what is it that you do?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So? The Bristol Bazaar is an indoor makers market. We
are open year round, six days a week, and by
maker's market as you explained that that means we sell
all handmade items from people, small businesses in particular who
are making their items by hand. So our main goal
is truly helping small business owners take their side hustle
(00:45):
to become their full time job. And we are also
home to Yellow King Bristol, which is a coffee cocktail
lounge in a really busy event space as well.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Why is it so important to support these local businesses
and help them out right now?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
In particular, this past year has been really passed for
all small businesses. I mean, I guess I shouldn't say
that it's such a generic statement, but in general it
has been a really rough go of it. And you know,
you hear the typical things, which is very true where
you know, when you shop small, you're you're paying for
you know, someone's child's dance classes, or you're helping putting
(01:22):
food on the table, you're helping your local economy. All
of those things are still so very true. And in
such a time where a lot of things are done
online or virtually, our store offers that in person, you know, touch, smell,
see here type of experience, which is also very much
needed right now. So we've really kind of turned into
(01:44):
a hub where we can help over eighty different small businesses.
As soon as you walk in the door.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Wow, that's wonderful. Tell me about some of the nice
things that are there.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Oh sure. So we have a very very large variety
of handmade items, all things varying from bake goods to
fuse glass to crochet, sewing, handcoord candles. It's truly a
massive variety. And what's cool too is that we only
allow two like vendors to vend at the same time,
so that means two woodworkers, two jewelry vendors, so you
(02:18):
won't see a whole lot of overlap as.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Well, and recently you just added eight new full time spaces.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yes, yes, we did. We are so excited. So the
inside of our space, for those who have not been
to the Bristle Bazaar, is heavily semed and designed to
be based off of Las Vegas. So we have turf
and trees and buildouts for our storefront. So what we
did is we actually took out a meeting room that
wasn't being utilized as much as we had thought when
(02:46):
we had built the space, so we took that all
out and we added in a brand new gazebo, a bicycle,
a trellis, and a mope head, all which are being
utilized for vendors.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
But your current theme at the store is a Pumpkin
King's Market.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yes, yes, yeah, so it's super fun. We've got tons
of different characters from Nightmare Before Christmas right now. So
we've got Jack Skellington, We've got Sally, we have Ugie
Boogie all scattered throughout the space with really cool Halloween
lights and webbing and trees that are all dark and
window decals and Yellow King actually in partnership with us,
(03:23):
created an Ugie Boogie lemonade which is perfect for adults or.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Kids that sounds so good. How was your experience at
the Big EE last weekend?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Oh, my goodness. So yeah. We just wrapped up at
the Big EE all seventeen days in the Connecticut Building
and it was truly remarkable. This year was a little
bit different because we did highlight twenty vendors, whereas last
year I believe we had thirty eight. But we kept
all the same twenty vendors and I think they released
the numbers at just over one point five million visitors
(03:55):
who came through the Big E gates over those seventeen days.
In partnership with the State of Connecticut, I should also
mention they have been a true, true, just wonderful group
of people to work with. They helped us again, you know,
with our space in the Connecticut Building, and we sold
their Connecticut state merchandise, so we had pizza candles and
pizza shirts with the you know, the Big Connecticut Pizza Push,
(04:19):
amongst again all of our twenty vendors that we highlight
of all their handmade items in the building.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Tell me you have some events coming up. What's happening
on October eleventh?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yes, So October eleventh is our third annual Pups and
pumpkins event. We we work in partnership with Dogstar Rescue
and they come onto our property out on our parking
lot with all these pups that need homes. The bar
usually does drink specials. We'll have outdoor vendors that day
who are going to be doing like all dog Beam
(04:50):
handmade items, and then of course tons of stuff going
on in the store with permanent jewelry with the always
busy Mama, and then we also have a cookie decorating
class with the cookie jar that day, so there's just
a whole bunch of things and usually we see about
ten to fifteen dogs who get there forever homes.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I'm so happy to hear that thank you for doing
that that it's so wonderful. I love when businesses do
other things in the community to help people.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Thank you. Yeah, we love working with Dogstar. This would
be our third year doing that with them in the fall,
and then we do our Pups and Pints in the spring,
saying very similar type of you know layout in terms
of all the things going on. So we do our
absolute best to give back as much as you can
to those pups who need.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
It and not to go back. But you mentioned jewelry,
and you said permanent jewelry, then, you know, being the
woman that I am, shoes jewelry, what is permanent jewelry?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
That is an awesome question. So permanent jewelry is something
that and now I have also grown to have a big,
big love for. But what the artists do is that
instead of having an actual clasp on, it could be
a necklace or alet or I think I've seen people
do rings. What they do is they use or solder
(06:06):
the rings together so that way it just continuously stins
or stays on. You can take them off with tin
snips or something if you have to for an emergency,
or if you're just you know, done with your anklet
for the summer, whatever that might be. But they do
tons of different styles and colors, and some have charms.
Now they're truly wonderful.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
That sounds so cool because I have nails and I
can't get the class. Yeah you know, and I would
have to ask somebody, can you put my necklace on?
Can you take my necklace off?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Like?
Speaker 1 (06:37):
What a pain?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Mm hmm. Yeah, it's really cool. You can do a
lot of stacked necklaces too, So there's there's so many
different options and designs, Like I was saying, with the
necklaces or bracelets, whatever you kind of want to turn
them into. And they're just they're just fun.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Some people get them with their best friends, or some
people get them with their siblings or mother daughters.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Oh I love the Yeah, that's wonderful. You have another
event coming up October eighteenth that is at your last
of the year.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So this is going to be our last traveling Bizarre.
We're going to be at one of our favorite breweries,
which is Kaya's Farm Brewery down in Branford. We have
worked at them for the last couple of years, so
this year last year, and we are going to take
our show on the road and we're going to bring
over twenty vendors down there set up outside. They serve
(07:29):
amazing beer, They've got a food truck, fire in the kitchen.
Piece is going to be there, which is amazing. We've
got music outside and shopping. So it's a really really
fun way to enjoy autumn. Be outside, shop small, enjoy
local local beers, and just have a really really great weekend.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Oh my goodness. These events sound so amazing. If you'd
like to go, you can go to the Bristolbizarre dot
com for more information. So let's see for the new year,
you are accepting applications for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
We are, we are, We are sitting at about seventy
five percent booked for our brick and water location in Bristol.
We are accepting applications for full time vending, so by
that I mean all of our larger spaces, anything from
a half table all the way up to a full storefront.
And we're also booking our shelf vending options as well.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Now, what is this partnership with the Science Center I
read about? Did it happen already or it's happening.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So that is happening. That's actually going to be on
December thirteenth from eleven am to three pm. And what
we're doing is a holiday bazaar at their space. So
we're going to be We're going to have about twenty
ish vendors spread throughout the Science Center. Stance is going
to be there, there's going to be it's going to
be a whole big to do. We are still accepting
(08:45):
applications for that event as well. We're looking particularly for
vendors who sell kid friendly items because we anticipate there
to be a lot of really great families there that day.
But it's a partnership that we have. We've been working
on the past year, and we are so so excited
to bring the Bristol Bazaar to the Science Center.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I am definitely going to make sure I put that
on my calendar. I take my grandson every year and
I give him so much money and then he buys
for mom, he buys for sister, he buys for you
know whatever, and it's the best day ever. I'm broke afterwards,
you know, but it's it's just a great memory that
he and I have created. So December thirteenth, eleven to
three at the Science Center, Oh my goodness. They're open
(09:27):
seven days a week for the holiday season. Again. You
can go to the Bristol bizar dot com. Is there
anything we didn't talk about you'd like to mention.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
No, that is absolutely wonderful. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I'm speaking with Carolyn Vericas. She is co founder of
the Bristol Bizarre again. It's the Bristol Bizarre dot com.
They have their event October eleventh, the annual Pups and
Pumpkins dog adoption event, and that's right at the store.
It's their third annual one on the eighteenth of October.
It's the final traveling bazaar for the twenty twenty five
season at Caius Brewing in Branford. December thirteenth, going to
(10:00):
be at the Science Center again. Go to the Bristol
Bizaar dot com. Carolyn, Thank you so much for being
here and for serving the community.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat
with me. I appreciate it so much.
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Alison de Murz. My guest this morning is Carolyn Vericas.
She is co founder of the Bristol Bazaar. Good morning,
good morning. For those who don't know about the Bristol Bizaar,
where are you located?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
So we are located in downtown Bristol on Race Street.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
And what is it that you do?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So? The Bristol Bazaar is an indoor makers market. We
are open year round, six days a week, and by
maker's market as you explained that that means we sell
all handmade items from people, small businesses in particular who
are making their items by hand. So our main goal
is truly helping small business owners take their side hustle
(00:45):
to become their full time job. And we are also
home to Yellow King Bristol, which is a coffee cocktail
lounge in a really busy event space as well.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Why is it so important to support these local businesses
and help them out right now?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
In particular, this past year has been really passed for
all small businesses. I mean, I guess I shouldn't say
that it's such a generic statement, but in general it
has been a really rough go of it. And you know,
you hear the typical things, which is very true where
you know, when you shop small, you're you're paying for
you know, someone's child's dance classes, or you're helping putting
(01:22):
food on the table, you're helping your local economy. All
of those things are still so very true. And in
such a time where a lot of things are done
online or virtually, our store offers that in person, you know, touch, smell,
see here type of experience, which is also very much
needed right now. So we've really kind of turned into
(01:44):
a hub where we can help over eighty different small businesses.
As soon as you walk in the door.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Wow, that's wonderful. Tell me about some of the nice
things that are there.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Oh sure. So we have a very very large variety
of handmade items, all things varying from bake goods to
fuse glass to crochet, sewing, handcoord candles. It's truly a
massive variety. And what's cool too is that we only
allow two like vendors to vend at the same time,
so that means two woodworkers, two jewelry vendors, so you
(02:18):
won't see a whole lot of overlap as.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Well, and recently you just added eight new full time spaces.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yes, yes, we did. We are so excited. So the
inside of our space, for those who have not been
to the Bristle Bazaar, is heavily semed and designed to
be based off of Las Vegas. So we have turf
and trees and buildouts for our storefront. So what we
did is we actually took out a meeting room that
wasn't being utilized as much as we had thought when
(02:46):
we had built the space, so we took that all
out and we added in a brand new gazebo, a bicycle,
a trellis, and a mope head, all which are being
utilized for vendors.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
But your current theme at the store is a Pumpkin
King's Market.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yes, yes, yeah, so it's super fun. We've got tons
of different characters from Nightmare Before Christmas right now. So
we've got Jack Skellington, We've got Sally, we have Ugie
Boogie all scattered throughout the space with really cool Halloween
lights and webbing and trees that are all dark and
window decals and Yellow King actually in partnership with us,
(03:23):
created an Ugie Boogie lemonade which is perfect for adults or.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Kids that sounds so good. How was your experience at
the Big EE last weekend?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Oh, my goodness. So yeah. We just wrapped up at
the Big EE all seventeen days in the Connecticut Building
and it was truly remarkable. This year was a little
bit different because we did highlight twenty vendors, whereas last
year I believe we had thirty eight. But we kept
all the same twenty vendors and I think they released
the numbers at just over one point five million visitors
(03:55):
who came through the Big E gates over those seventeen days.
In partnership with the State of Connecticut, I should also
mention they have been a true, true, just wonderful group
of people to work with. They helped us again, you know,
with our space in the Connecticut Building, and we sold
their Connecticut state merchandise, so we had pizza candles and
pizza shirts with the you know, the Big Connecticut Pizza Push,
(04:19):
amongst again all of our twenty vendors that we highlight
of all their handmade items in the building.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Tell me you have some events coming up. What's happening
on October eleventh?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yes, So October eleventh is our third annual Pups and
pumpkins event. We we work in partnership with Dogstar Rescue
and they come onto our property out on our parking
lot with all these pups that need homes. The bar
usually does drink specials. We'll have outdoor vendors that day
who are going to be doing like all dog Beam
(04:50):
handmade items, and then of course tons of stuff going
on in the store with permanent jewelry with the always
busy Mama, and then we also have a cookie decorating
class with the cookie jar that day, so there's just
a whole bunch of things and usually we see about
ten to fifteen dogs who get there forever homes.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I'm so happy to hear that thank you for doing
that that it's so wonderful. I love when businesses do
other things in the community to help people.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Thank you. Yeah, we love working with Dogstar. This would
be our third year doing that with them in the fall,
and then we do our Pups and Pints in the spring,
saying very similar type of you know layout in terms
of all the things going on. So we do our
absolute best to give back as much as you can
to those pups who need.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
It and not to go back. But you mentioned jewelry,
and you said permanent jewelry, then, you know, being the
woman that I am, shoes jewelry, what is permanent jewelry?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
That is an awesome question. So permanent jewelry is something
that and now I have also grown to have a big,
big love for. But what the artists do is that
instead of having an actual clasp on, it could be
a necklace or alet or I think I've seen people
do rings. What they do is they use or solder
(06:06):
the rings together so that way it just continuously stins
or stays on. You can take them off with tin
snips or something if you have to for an emergency,
or if you're just you know, done with your anklet
for the summer, whatever that might be. But they do
tons of different styles and colors, and some have charms.
Now they're truly wonderful.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
That sounds so cool because I have nails and I
can't get the class. Yeah you know, and I would
have to ask somebody, can you put my necklace on?
Can you take my necklace off?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Like?
Speaker 1 (06:37):
What a pain?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Mm hmm. Yeah, it's really cool. You can do a
lot of stacked necklaces too, So there's there's so many
different options and designs, Like I was saying, with the
necklaces or bracelets, whatever you kind of want to turn
them into. And they're just they're just fun.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Some people get them with their best friends, or some
people get them with their siblings or mother daughters.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Oh I love the Yeah, that's wonderful. You have another
event coming up October eighteenth that is at your last
of the year.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So this is going to be our last traveling Bizarre.
We're going to be at one of our favorite breweries,
which is Kaya's Farm Brewery down in Branford. We have
worked at them for the last couple of years, so
this year last year, and we are going to take
our show on the road and we're going to bring
over twenty vendors down there set up outside. They serve
(07:29):
amazing beer, They've got a food truck, fire in the kitchen.
Piece is going to be there, which is amazing. We've
got music outside and shopping. So it's a really really
fun way to enjoy autumn. Be outside, shop small, enjoy
local local beers, and just have a really really great weekend.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Oh my goodness. These events sound so amazing. If you'd
like to go, you can go to the Bristolbizarre dot
com for more information. So let's see for the new year,
you are accepting applications for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
We are, we are, We are sitting at about seventy
five percent booked for our brick and water location in Bristol.
We are accepting applications for full time vending, so by
that I mean all of our larger spaces, anything from
a half table all the way up to a full storefront.
And we're also booking our shelf vending options as well.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Now, what is this partnership with the Science Center I
read about? Did it happen already or it's happening.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So that is happening. That's actually going to be on
December thirteenth from eleven am to three pm. And what
we're doing is a holiday bazaar at their space. So
we're going to be We're going to have about twenty
ish vendors spread throughout the Science Center. Stance is going
to be there, there's going to be it's going to
be a whole big to do. We are still accepting
(08:45):
applications for that event as well. We're looking particularly for
vendors who sell kid friendly items because we anticipate there
to be a lot of really great families there that day.
But it's a partnership that we have. We've been working
on the past year, and we are so so excited
to bring the Bristol Bazaar to the Science Center.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I am definitely going to make sure I put that
on my calendar. I take my grandson every year and
I give him so much money and then he buys
for mom, he buys for sister, he buys for you
know whatever, and it's the best day ever. I'm broke afterwards,
you know, but it's it's just a great memory that
he and I have created. So December thirteenth, eleven to
three at the Science Center, Oh my goodness. They're open
(09:27):
seven days a week for the holiday season. Again. You
can go to the Bristol bizar dot com. Is there
anything we didn't talk about you'd like to mention.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
No, that is absolutely wonderful. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I'm speaking with Carolyn Vericas. She is co founder of
the Bristol Bizarre again. It's the Bristol Bizarre dot com.
They have their event October eleventh, the annual Pups and
Pumpkins dog adoption event, and that's right at the store.
It's their third annual one on the eighteenth of October.
It's the final traveling bazaar for the twenty twenty five
season at Caius Brewing in Branford. December thirteenth, going to
(10:00):
be at the Science Center again. Go to the Bristol
Bizaar dot com. Carolyn, Thank you so much for being
here and for serving the community.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat
with me. I appreciate it so much.
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