A few times every year on a bright and beautiful sunny day in southwest Michigan, local vendors collaborate to put on Vintage in the Zoo. During these events, sellers and buyers meet in a public place and share their experiences and interests in unique and antique clothing and decor.
On Sept. 8, Vintage in the Zoo was held at the Kalamazoo Farmers Market, bringing together over 60 vendors, including food trucks and even a live DJ.
This year, the goal for Vintage in the Zoo was to bring people together through the nostalgic atmosphere and decor along with food, music and shows. This event is very popular with high school students looking for back-to-school shopping.
”It was awesome,” said sophomore Julius Boza. “I’ve been to Vintage in the Zoo before, but, in my opinion, this was the best one so far.”
Boza bought several items at the event, including Southpole shorts and a JNCO hoodie.
“My favorite part about Vintage in the Zoo is the community that shows up. Everybody is really nice and helpful and the wide variety of products can get you wrapped up in just walking around and checking out everything,” Boza said. “I definitely plan on going back to future events. It’s really fun and you gotta support the small businesses.”
Local business Kingdom Clothing, run by Ryan Matovich, is a vintage clothing business located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They focus on bringing customers handpicked vintage clothing at reasonable prices. These clothes are picked from multiple areas in the United States, then sold at their Grand Rapids location or Vintage in the Zoo.
“We source most of our stuff from Los Angeles, usually in bulk orders because that’s what we get the best prices with,” said Matovich. “Sometimes we get lucky and get individual items for way cheaper, but recently we’re going to start trying new areas like Houston, Texas and parts of Florida.”
Vintage in the Zoo isn’t exclusive to secondhand clothing and decor, however. With the venue at the Farmers Market, there was more then enough room for a variety of vendors. For example, local business Hann of the Wood, run by Hannah Gregus who specializes in watercolor, painting and printmaking was also there. Gregus prints these designs on different kinds of products that she then sells to shoppers.
”I do a lot of hand painting with wash or acrylic and lots and lots of watercolor with pen and ink as well as printmaking,” Gregus said. “I usually carve with little pink rubber blocks that you can see here and then ink the design. After that I go and get them printed out as stickers, pins and erasers.”
Vintage in the Zoo is coming back to Kalamazoo on Sunday, Oct.13 at the Kalamazoo Farmers Market for the last time in 2024. However, the event is held multiple times a year, so there will be plenty of opportunities to go in the future.
