Canned Ham plans Rosemary District Indie Market

Ashley Rogers opened her vintage store in the Rosemary District last year after originally operating Canned Ham Vintage out of a Shasta tin trailer. Now, she wants to bring a slew of mobile vendors to the growing neighborhood north of downtown.

In November, Rogers hopes to launch the Rosemary District Indie Market, which will include 28 vendors including a potential food truck in an open-air market at the intersection of Seventh Street and Cohen Way. The market, which is slated to operate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every third Saturday of the month, will feature artists, handcrafts, vintage enthusiasts, fresh vegetables and live music, according to a permit filed with the city.

“It’s going to be a small market,” Rogers said. “It’s not going to be gigantic, but we want to have a little bit of everything.”

The idea grew out of the fact that she didn’t notice many regional farmers markets have vintage vendors, including the weekly market downtown. Further, she often had people come into her store asking if there was anything to do in the Rosemary District besides eat and drink at the area restaurants.

“I’m 27,” said Rogers. “There needs to be some more fun things to do around the city.”

The market will draw inspiration from the St. Pete Indie Market, which flanks Green Bench Brewing Co. in the similarly-historic EDGE District.

Rogers hopes to hold the first market Nov. 19, which coincides with Canned Ham’s two-year anniversary. Canned Ham will offer free vendor stalls to local nonprofit organizations as part of each market.

If approved by the city, the market will emerge as the Rosemary District is in the midst of a full-on building boom. As work nears completion of the first phase of the 498-unit CitySide, developers this month applied for a traffic study for the second half of the project.

Also, construction started earlier this year on  the 286-unit Elan Rosemary Apartments. And Rosemary Square, which will house retail, office and restaurant space, and 30 apartments, is also taking shape.

In total, there are more than 800 residential units under construction of in the works in the Rosemary District.

“We’ll definitely be encouraging people to walk,” said Rogers.