A multitude of community members gathered at Masso’s Event Center for the Glassboro Easter Market. The event was coordinated between AP Events, Marketing, and Masso’s as a collaborative effort. Throughout the event, there were a variety of events and organizations for event goers to enjoy.

The event, which was hosted last Saturday, went from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and one of the core themes of the event was the union of local Glassboro residents, especially around the Easter season. 

“There’s a lot of activities for kids here, along with a lot of shopping and things like that, along with music, so that’s something that I think will add to the community, especially before Easter. We have a [number] of events, like our Holiday Market, this is our first year for the Easter Market. We just like to bring events to the community, and I feel like that brings everyone together,” said Ariella Purdy, one of the coordinators of the event who works with AP Events and Marketing.

The events included the likes of egg painting, ham toss, and pictures with the Easter Bunny. Another major draw of the event was the variety of vendors that were selling their products to the community.

One of the vendors included the owner of Crafts by Ellen, Ellen Greenberg, who had a table full of homemade items and crafts such as customized pens with symbols and phrases, to keychains and stickers. Greenberg shared that she feels that her creations are a way to give back to the community.

“I always make donations to the community and allow people to express their creativity through my pens and my items,” said Greenberg.

Greenberg was just a small part of many different vendors at the Easter Market, and the sense of coming together as a community was very strong throughout the entire event, regardless of what area was being represented.

Another vendor and owner of the business, River’s Ribbons, Kayla Compher, shared that when asked about her business, she started it in honor of her daughter River, who was six months old when it first started, and how she collaborated with the business of her friend Sarah Murray, who is the owner of Murrmaid Manes.

“I started this business seven years ago, I have a daughter named River … I make a lot of bows, all different kinds, very unique… and I also have been collaborating with my friend Sarah [Murray], who is the owner of Murrmaid Manes and she does glitter extensions, hair accessories [other] tattoos and more,” said Compher.

River’s Ribbons and Murrmaid Manes were shown to be very popular at the Easter Market, especially with the younger girls that they were catered towards. Along with these two businesses, there were also several stands that were popular with families in spite of what they were selling. JK Trinkets and Things, which sells a lot of anime and pop culture-based trinkets, and Celestial Roots, which has a plethora of crystals and bracelets among others all dedicated to metaphysics and healing journeys. All of these businesses seemed to keep the joy and comfort that the event was aiming for alive.

Even with the visual outlier of the business she owns being significantly different from the previous ones mentioned, Helena Jardinelli who is the owner of Celestial Roots, shares a similar sentiment that this event is perfect for not only her business but for the kids that grew up in Glassboro.

“I think it’s good for the community so that it can bring everybody together, especially kids growing up here, so that they can all meet each other [and connect],” said Jardinelli.

As shown, every vendor and community member wanted to emphasize the importance of community through this event as well as the previous events Masso’s and AP Events have collaborated on. Opportunities such as these have only made the people in and around Glassboro feel more connected than ever.