HodgePodge Market, Celina Record

Event producer has high hopes for Prosper HodgePodge Market Lisa Ferguson, lferguson@starlocalmedia.com Apr 29, 2016 Don’t call it a flea market. Nor is it a swap meet. It’s also different than Trade Days. HodgePodge Markets are not “any one thing,” according to Dana Wood, whose Arlington-based GGA Productions has been staging the monthly shopping experiences in cities around the Metroplex for about five years. The newest HodgePodge Market will debut Saturday and Sunday at 3R’s Ranch, 1695 N. Coit Road in Prosper. “The term ‘hodgepodge’ basically means a little bit of this and a little bit of that,” Wood said, “and that really describes our market.” More than 100 vendors are expected to set up booths and peddle a variety of home décor, jewelry and clothing items, among others, at this weekend’s event, which will also feature a variety of handmade, vintage, antique and refurbished goods. “I think of it as like when you used to go to town back in the 1800s and everybody went to market to buy their wares. It’s kind of like that,” she said. It is also unique, Wood said, in that many of the products sold at HodgePodge Markets are locally produced by the vendors. In some cases, “It is true artistry,” she said. Wood had been hosting the market at a venue in Lewisville’s Lakeland Plaza, but said that road construction-related traffic on nearby Interstate 35 E made it necessary for her to relocate the event to Prosper. GGA Productions orchestrated a similar spring-themed market last weekend in Burleson. It has others scheduled through next year in cities including Plano, Waco, Fort Worth, Llano and Midlothian. Wood said she hopes Prosper will prove to be a popular location for the market, which she expects about 2,000 people to attend. “I think it will grow.” Additional dates for the Prosper market are already set for May and June prior to a hiatus in July and August. The event, which will also feature food trucks, will resume in the fall. Vendors often change from month to month at the shows, Woods explained. “So what you’ll see at the market April 30 and May 1 will be different from what you see May 28 and 29. Some [vendors] may come to every single one, but there is a very different set of vendors overall for each one.” The markets also double as a food drive for Golden Food Pantry Ministry, which serves residents in the East Texas city of Alba. Wood charges $7 per person for admission to the HodgePodge Market, but knocks a couple of bucks off the price if attendees donate a pair of canned food items at the gate. “If we can get a couple thousand people who come through and a good number of them bring canned food, that feeds a whole lot of people in this really small town,” she said. “It’s a beautiful ministry, and we’re happy to do something for them.”