At Rams Community Bazaar, a cross section of crafts and causes

Samantha McCartney

Writer

Warm weather, live music and hula hoopers were all a part of the Rams Community Bazaar’s Earth Day event this past Friday. Local and student vendors within the VCU and greater Richmond community came out to display and sell their homemade and reused items to event goers and also to educate people on the importance of buying locally produced items.

In addition to the plants and herbs being sold, the bazaar had a wide spectrum of things to offer. Communication arts major Johnathan Toum was selling handmade replicas of household spirits. Toum claimed the spirits could improve little things around the house such as WiFi strength and keeping coffee from burning.

“They definitely probably work,” he said.

One popular aspect of the event was the 9-foot canvas on which anyone mainly sells hand-painted surfboards and skateboards, by artist Bob Langston, as well as flip flops made from discarded motorcycle tires. was invited to paint, creating a collage of random thoughts and ideas, mostly relevant to the message of the bazaar.

Anderson, a former teacher and Occupy Richmond participant enticed many curious people to his area. These balls, made out of upcycled or reused items, were created for trash storage.

“People can keep them in their neighborhoods to put trash in, and then when they’re full, kids could just kick them down the street and play with them,” Anderson said. His organization “Save the Trash” offers recycling services and encourages people to reuse items to their full potential before they decide to throw them away.

“A large sum of our proceeds goes to charity. We’re community-based, and we try to steer away from big European conglomerates,” Burch said.

A few feet away from all of the stands, in the Commons Plaza, the Recyclemania Fashion show took place, giving students who had submitted their work earlier in the semester a chance to showcase their creations. As a regulation, they were only allowed to use certain materials for their pieces, and most of them were required to be reusable.

Despite this being the first Rams Community Bazaar, there was a great turnout.

“It’s colorful, there’s so much energy, and it really shows the range of talents at VCU. This kind of a thing could sustain itself,” political science major Max Ross said of the event’s future.

Across Park Plaza was a giant tent and massive “Earth balls,” where Carter

VCU alumni had quite a presence at the bazaar as well. Daniel Burch, a 1997 graduate, ran a stand advertising a company by the name of Tribu, based out of the Phillipines. The company

The event would also give Richmonders who have a passion for creating things of this nature to put themselves out there and create a customer base. CT