'Tis the season for gratitude and gifting, and right now in Brooklyn nowhere is doing it better than Brooklyn Navy Yard.
The industrial-park-turned-small-business-incubator is hosting its sixth annual holiday market, Wallabout Wonderland, this weekend, December 2-3.
The Yard is going big this year for small businesses. The market will showcase more than 200 Brooklyn-based businesses and independent artisans all weekend long in the 100,000-square-foot space, making it the largest pop-up market in Brooklyn. If that wasn't enough, the festive market will also include several family-friendly activities, festive drinks and live music.
But really, the market is just the tip of the iceberg for the ways Brooklyn Navy Yard supports small businesses year-round.
"The market started several years ago, really as an extension of what we are doing to support the businesses here at the yard," said Lindsay Greene, president and CEO of Brooklyn Navy Yard.
This year's market will be the sixth annual winter shopping event. Last year, Wallabout Wonderland featured around 100 vendors, who reported more than $150,000 in sales for the weekend-long market, Greene, a Prospect Heights local, said.
This year, Greene said she expects the number to double since the number of vendors has also doubled.
"We've been able to put a lot of revenue into these businesses, which is really fantastic," Greene said.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard, once a ship-building hub, is now home to more than 450 businesses and entrepreneurs, which generate more than $2.5 billion per year in economic impact for the city.
In addition to offering affordable real estate for small-business owners to grow their enterprises, the Yard also offers its tenants free skill-building workshops ranging from financial planning to marketing, networking opportunities and expert support from other like-minded organizations.
The Yard also supports its tenants with an on-site employment center so the businesses can hire local talent. Currently, 11,000 people are employed by the small businesses at the Yard, according to its website.
Since Greene took the helm at Brooklyn Navy Yard in 2022, supporting enterprises owned by women and people of color has been a special focus, she said.
For the second year in a row, Wallabout Wonderland will host 75 Black-owned, Brooklyn-based small businesses curated by The Lay Out, a Brooklyn-based community equity and justice organization, so shoppers can buy Black.
"A lot of what we do with the holiday market is be a cheerleader for our tenants and give them an opportunity to shine on their own accord, and tell their own stories and sell the amazing things they make," Greene said. "There's just a purity in that — someone has a chance to shine with the thing they pour their heart and soul into every day."
The Brooklyn Navy Yard's Wallabout Wonderland will take place from Dec. 2-3, 12:00pm-5:00pm, at Building 293, Gee Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205. To preview the vendors that will be there, go here.
