SoWa Winter Festival
A Creative Shelter for Everyone
What is SoWa Winter Festival?
A creative shelter, a supporter of sustainable small businesses, and a builder of festive community - the sixth ten-day SoWa Winter Festival hosted dozens of companies and thousands of visitors at the iconic SoWa Power Station that was originally built in 1891 as the world’s largest power generation plant.
Mario Nicosia, the founder of GTI properties, has transformed the territory once a collection of unvarnished and drab facades into an energetic and effective residential and commercial place, where industrial architecture creates a welcoming, artistic, and aesthetically pleasing environment for companies and the communities.
“The idea emerged from wanting to connect makers around the holidays,” said Heidi Arni, event marketing director of SoWa Boston, while talking about the festive period. “Why not allow selling the products to our local makers, rather than to only big corporations.”
The SoWa Winter Festival stretched along Harrison Avenue from the Power Station to the Outdoor Winter Wonderland, Artist Studios, Design Showrooms, Galleries, Retail Shops, and Vintage Market.
“There is a multitude of players involved in creating this atmosphere,” said Arni. “We have all of our galleries, shops, and restaurants opened for the festival in this area, so in total, we have hundreds of people who are participating and bringing a huge impact to their businesses.”
The role of such a festival is quite significant in reviving the small businesses that were dramatically impacted by the pandemic in Boston and its surrounding cities and towns.
The continuous restrictions drastically dropped revenues and lack of personal monetary capital have challenged a number of small businesses in Massachusetts, according to the data from a nonpartisan research organization at Harvard University. Arny said a few small companies could not make it through the pandemic.
“Several of our vendors did not return this summer or even winter, simply because they were short-staffed, did not have the capacity, or did not have the revenue to put it into the upfront. So it’s definitely been a hard year,” said Arni. “But I am impressed by the resilience, teamwork, and support that everyone has shown.”
"I have lived in ten different cities and few different countries, and I have been working in various mediums of arts - film, visual arts, music, dance. I have been surprised that Boston has tremendous creative energy, but it is not concentrated, like in other major cities.
That is why I think this is the beauty of SoWa. We want to make it the creative destination of Boston and New England. I think there is great need and craving for it, and we are capable of doing that," said Arni.
SoWa Winter Festival and Vendors
In total, at SoWa Power Station, 105 small businesses are presented. Winter shopping village offers a family-friendly atmosphere and a wide range of handmade home goods, apparel, jewelry, art, décor, and furniture, along with sweets, honey, and organic, healthy drinks.
However, besides months of planning and organizing the event, there are certain criteria for businesses to meet to appear at the festival.
“Some of the factors include, first and foremost whether their product is handmade, is it a good quality, do they have strong artistic or design sense,” said Arni. “We also look for a variety of products. Some of the products are diversified, along with stories behind them. And, finally, we look at whether companies have the history with us, whether they are a member of our community, as we value that the most.”
SoWa Winter Festival organizing team aims to keep track of their partner companies throughout the year.
“In the middle of summer and the Summer Festival, we start planning the Winter festival, and that is why there is not a time of the year when we are not in touch with our vendors,” said Arni. “In addition, we are linked up on all social media platforms, and vendors’ friendship and communication help us as well.”
Up to date, staff members who have an arts background used to select the businesses for the festival, but the strategy for the upcoming SoWa winter events is going to change.
“I certainly want to have a more thorough selection process that involves more experts,” said Arni. "It is only beneficial to everyone."
In addition to creating an artistic district, during the festive period, SoWa uses various channels, including social media, giveaways, and media coverage, for promoting the festival and attracting new prospective partner companies that might become a SoWa community members.
“It is our biggest event of the year, and it is important for businesses to make connections here and then come back to our smaller events throughout the year,” said Arni. “Such mega-events are like an intro to the community, where you can explore every little aspect of it, develop taste, and come back to our art studios with workshops and advanced knowledge.”
Small Businesses Tell Their Stories
Linda Wojtasinski and Amy Conley tell the story of Periwinkle Designs.
Owner of Smittens, David Ellis tells his family business story.
"Pandemic did impact my business, because there were no markets. And those are places where I usually present my products. This fall reopening of such markets and festivals has been a huge help to get back on track."
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