By: Shane Bagot, Community Journalist
MOORESTOWN — The New Jersey Queer and Trans Makers Market and Garden State Equality will be teaming up to bring a vendor market to Burlington County. The event will be on April 26 at the Community House of Moorestown. This will mark their first event held in South Jersey.
The market was started in 2023 by Mac Allen. Allen, who is a transgender man, built it up as a chance to give space for other LGBTQ+ members in New Jersey, especially in areas of the state that might not always have representation or the resources needed.
The idea came from a bad experience Allen had at a popular event in New Jersey while vending, when another vendor was transphobic towards Allen with no real repercussions from the event staff.
It was then that Allen realized he was going to build his own space for positive representation.
Allen’s job is to source out the venues and vendors for their events. He is not alone with a dozen other team members, some friends, and others outsourced. The vendors have to be LGBTQ+ and provide different merchandise to each other.
Before the event in Moorestown, they held seven other events around New Jersey in Mercer County, New Brunswick, Montclair, Ewing, and Morristown. The support had built up enough to expand further into the state.
It did not always start like that for Allen and the Makers Market.
“I think people were a little skeptical, especially from the venue perspective of things. I know we would walk in trying to book a venue, and they’d ask what the name of our event was. I tell them, and they’d say, ‘Yeah, you can’t hold that here.’ Just straight denial. Now I think that we have a following, and we have more people who are vocal and willing to go out to bat for us, like Garden State Equality,” said Allen.
Allen had learned a lot about this kind of work from his mother, who worked live events for 15 years. He knew the obvious difference in the kind of things being represented. As the Makers Market kept holding events and seeing more people show up at each one, it allowed Allen and the team to grow some confidence and pride in the work they are doing.
“I think I’m at a point now where I believe in my team and I believe in this work, and I believe that if we don’t take up space, if we don’t show people that we’re here and we’re not going anywhere, things aren’t going to get better for us,” said Allen.
This event will host 20 LGBTQ+ makers, artists, and vendors. Eight bands will be performing live music, and vendors include South Jersey gender care organizations, and tables to get a Real ID filled out.
Tickets will be $5 with a “pay it forward” option to donate a ticket to someone not able to afford it.
Allen is most excited about connecting with the local community for the first time.
With this event and more planned in the future, Allen and the team hope to keep expanding.
“I think right now, it’s more important to get in touch with our community that doesn’t have access to these resources, and maybe has never been to a pride event or even a queer event. I think my goal is to definitely keep doing markets in different areas of the state,” said Allen.
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