Valentine’s Day will be here next week, bringing with it romance for some; the rest of us find it to be a fun way to break up the winter doldrums! The slideshow will show you photos of just some of the many items at 2nd Street Market
Whatever your take on Valentine’s Day, the 2nd Street Market has you covered. Starting at the Animal Snackers Bakery at the east end of the market, the Friends of the Humane Society will get your pet into the heart of it all with red or pink pet bandanas with heart designs for that fashionable pooch. For the pooch that wants to impress, Animal Snackers has pet treats that look like cupcakes with hearts on top as well as treats that look like fancy canapés.
Moving along to A Bird’s Paradise, the new sunflower seed bird feeder will win over the hearts (or at least the stomachs) of the wild birds in your neighborhood. Brilliant red hummingbird feeders make a beautiful gift for Valentine’s Day, and your special Birder will be all set when the first hummer of 2014 makes an appearance.
A Greener You will have you seeing red with pretty red accessories for the home…and for you! Beautiful handcrafted necklaces and earrings with red crystals will set the mood for Valentine’s Day, and that romantic dinner is off to a great start with a bottle of wine from The Wine Gallery (just across the aisle) and some appetizers made with the Red chili pepper dipping oil from A Greener You.
Those of you planning ahead may enjoy making cookies with the heart cookie cutters from A Greener You, and the little heart-shaped infuser is just the thing to make a nice cup of tea to go with those cookies. There is a bright red bib for the younger set, some bright red glass hearts to liven up your living space, a bright red make-up bag to liven up you, and some bright red water bottles for your Valentine’s Day trip to the gym. If you overdo, the Merry Hempsters soothing hemp rub comes in a bright red container.
Simply Living soaps has some lovely room fragrance sprays, bar soaps, candles and bath items in pretty fragrances and pretty colors.
Planning on baking some treats for your Valentine? The Spice Rack has old fashioned cinnamon red-hots, ‘Lucky Charms’ type marshmallows, red sprinkles for topping cookies or cupcakes, and dried cranberries for quick breads. For the dinner table, pickled baby beets add colorful touch, and Bulk Foods and Spices even has red peppercorns!! How impressed will your guests be when they see red peppercorns in your pepper mill?
Bright red cherry tomatoes and red peppers from Hydrogrowers will look cheerful in a dinner salad, and Blue Jacket Dairy will let you sample all their cheeses to find just the right one to top that salad.
Moving along, for those of you who prefer that someone else make your Valentine’s cookies, Azra’s should be your next destination. Azra’s has delicious heart-shaped filled cookies, heart-shaped brownies (!) and cookies with pretty pink sprinkles. Their cream puffs are killer any time of year, and if you haven’t had some of their hot spiced Greek tea you haven’t lived! (Author’s note: I’d pay money just to listen to the nice gentleman behind the counter speaking Greek to the folks he works with…but you get to do that FOR FREE while waiting for your hot tea and cookies!).
You can put all of your shopping trip treasures in a pretty gift bag with hearts on it from the Wegerzyn Garden shop, which also has bright red plush cardinals and some nice red-trimmed gardening hats for spring (the hats come in many other colors as well).
Looking for chocolates for your Valentine? How about some chocolate balsamic vinegar from The Olive Tree? Perfect as a dipping sauce or even very lightly drizzled on vanilla ice cream (yes), the chocolate balsamic vinegar – like all the flavorful vinegars at The Olive Tree – has been aged for at least 12 and up to 18 years.
One of the newer vendors, Decoy Arts, has some very nice heart-shaped glass window hangers as well as stuffed cloth hearts suitable for use as pin cushions or for holding your brooches or pierced earrings.
Right next door, Maria’s Unique Foods, has many Ohio-made delicacies, including mouth-watering truffles and cashew bark, beautiful gift baskets, gourmet jams and jellies, unusual pickled eggs and crazy good Triple Treat Granola made with white (or milk) chocolate and cranberries!
This is just a sampling of the many local vendors at the 2nd Street Market, and new items are arriving weekly. Come shake off those winter blues and see red at the 2nd Street Market!
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