Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NILES — Downtown Niles was the place to be Sunday afternoon as businesses hosted the Downtown Market Crawl.

From noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, 16 businesses throughout downtown hosted 29 vendors in their locations while guests “crawled” through downtown to explore and experience all it had to offer.

“Sunday was a great day and we heard great feedback from shoppers,” said event organizer Kristin Bivens. “They loved the concept and were good sports about the less than ideal weather. I think the weather did keep some people at home, but it’s perfect having it inside businesses because the entire event doesn’t have to be cancelled. We are looking forward to the rest of the Homegrown season.”

According to Bivens, the event serves as a way to kick off the Niles Homegrown Market season that begins July 5. The event allowed local small businesses without storefronts to have increased exposure to customers.

“It’s great because most people don’t know where we’re at because we’re off of downtown,” said Shawn Vertrees, co-owner of Best Syrups, which offers snow cone syrups, unique Creature Wears and Kernel Korny Popcorn at 211 N. 9th St. “It’s great when we actually get to come downtown and people are like ‘I’ve driven past your building’, ‘I’ve seen you online’ or ‘I saw you get voted in ‘Best of The Best for desserts. So it’s perfect for that.”

“The concept is to support small local vendors, while also getting people into downtown businesses,” Bivens said. “It kills two birds with one stone.”

Amy Davis, who owns the Amy’s Enchanted Needle crafting business, enjoyed being part of the positive momentum Niles is experiencing.

“We need to grow Niles and get people to come here and check it out,” she said. “There’s a lot of history here and there’s been a lot of really nice things going into the community.”