The 2018 Yelp Totally Bazaar was the first Totally Bazaar that I’ve attended and it was a blast! It’s such a treat to have a bunch of local businesses, some you’ve probably been meaning to check out and some you’ve never heard of, all in one place, and the Indianapolis Central Library venue was the perfect spot to sample and shop the night away!
I attempted to attend this event two years ago, and couldn’t find parking anywhere. I drove for blocks and blocks past the event location and then I thought, do I want to trek a mile back to my car with a bunch of bags afterward?! Nope. So I just took myself back home.
Fast forward to this year, Yelp Elites were able to enter the bazaar an hour early, which meant zero trouble finding a space in the library parking garage ($5 to park) and we were able to leisurely peruse and ask a lot of questions without being shoved around in a huge crowd.
I brought a bag with me, but there was a free bag available to get upon Yelp check-in, so I grabbed one of those too. After that, I was free to explore the four floors of food, entertainment, and shopping!
My first stop was KG Acres Farm & Featherwerks, a business I’d never heard of before, and I must have spent a half hour at their stand, trying on feather fascinators and earrings, and looking at their other items, like feather wreaths and feather hand fans. They have such cute items, and most of the personal accessories only cost $5 – $10! My only regret is that I didn’t buy more there, but they are at the Indy Winter Farmer’s Market, so I will track them down there!
My second stop was Smoking Goose and I had a little bit of regret not purchasing a yummy sausage that I sampled at Newfields Winterlights, so I was excited to make up for it here at Yelp’s Totally Bazaar.
The third stop was My Pretty Little Pretzel, who I randomly found on Instagram weeks beforehand. The samples were delicious and would make great gifts!
The next stop was Tinker Coffee. Now, I’d been intending to check out Tinker forever, and I was excited to get a coffee sample and chat with the rep a bit about their coffees. He recommended the Short Days coffee and I am now in love with it! Kinda wish I’d bought at least another bag, since I’m not downtown often enough to get another one soon, but they do have delivery subscriptions now, so I can get my caffeine fix that way.
Circle City Kombucha was another vendor I was excited to see at Yelp’s Totally Bazaar. I’ve previously ordered them through Market Wagon and wished I’d brought my empty growler so that I could have gotten a refill that night. That’s what I get for not being prepared and reading through which vendors would be there beforehand! At least I got to sample some kombucha flavors that I hadn’t tried before.
There were other notable Indy brands represented – Broad Ripple Chip Company, Bee Coffee, Tulip Tree Creamery, Penn & Beech – as well as a lot of seemingly smaller businesses. Each floor also had different music or entertainment, so it was worth exploring each floor just to see what kind of fun is happening, in addition to checking out all of the stands.
I stayed a little under 2 hours, which is a lot less time than I thought I’d spend at this event, but considering the early entry that meant no lines at most of the stands, I think I was just lucky enough to hit everything I wanted a lot more quickly than I expected.
This was a fantastic event and, after attending for the first time, I see now why it’s such a popular event in Indy during the holidays! Shopping, food, fun, supporting local businesses… what more could you want?!
