LORAIN, Ohio — In Lorain right on the Black River, you’ll hear music, smell delicious food and find many shops as the city kicks off its Summer Market for the 17th year.
But in that mix, you’ll spot a little lady named Vicki Billow, sewing the words, “Be kind,” on a piece of clothing.
“That is my mantra, it started when I was just thinking about what I can do to spread some kindness and goodness. So, I came up with the idea, I printed it so that when people get dressed in the morning, hopefully, that's my way spread to kindness,” said Billow.
Billow started 2119 Rebirth more than 7 years ago.
“I just started playing around and I made some patches, and I collected all textiles for 30 years and I just started sewing. Rebirth was born,” said Billow.
And now, here she is at the Summer Market spreading that same love, but she’s not alone in sharing the kindness.
“We started the Summer Market as a fundraiser for the Thomas Folger home in Avon,” said Erin stack, Founder of the Summer Market.
The market started 17 years ago to help preserve a home that was up for demolition, and well, from there the gift of a home never stopped.
“We just morphed into more home projects in which we renovated the homes of great local families in need,” said Stack.
So, every year more than 120 vendors come out, selling anything and everything handmade.
“We have vintage collectors; we have handmade artists, we have a farmers’ market, we've got food trucks, we've got treat trucks,” said Stack.
While still helping those in need.
“It makes me think that there are other people in the world that try to spread goodness and Erin is certainly a shining example of that,” said Billow.
So, today is the last day though.
“Start saving your money because you're literally going to want everything here,” said Stack.
There’s still next year.
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
