Seize The Night & Destination Danville Festival

Join us for this week's Chamber Chat as we sit down with Sarah from Seize The Night, one of Danville's favorite destinations for unique gifts, beautiful jewelry, boutique clothing, home décor, and so much more. Located right on the square, Seize The Night has become a go-to shopping experience for locals and visitors alike.

Sarah shares the story behind her business, what makes her store special, and why supporting local businesses helps our community thrive.

We also talk about the highly anticipated Destination Danville Festival, happening this Saturday in downtown Danville. Sarah and her sister are the driving force behind this incredible event, which will feature more than 100 unique vendors, shopping, food, entertainment, and a full day of fun for the entire family.

Don't miss this conversation highlighting local entrepreneurship, community spirit, and one of Danville's biggest events of the year!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:08

We hope you enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Good afternoon. Welcome to the Chamber Chat.

unknown 0:29

Hi.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

We are excited to have you today. So I'm Kelly.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

I'm Jocelyn.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

And today we have Sarah with us. And uh Sarah is it's one of my favorite businesses on the square. Oh, thank you. Like I buy, I it's my favorite gift place. Thank you. I feel like I find such unique items there. Um, so sees the night. So, all right, so Sarah, tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, what do you want to know? Well, um, well, personally, I think you have a little girl. I do.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

She just turned five. Yes. And she has been raised in the store. She definitely has. Oh my goodness, yeah. I only took a month off maternity leave, and then she came in with me, and I had a little pack and play back there, and customers still come in asking about her because they remember seeing her. She came for her first year at the shop.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

She's so stinking cute.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

She is, but I'm biased about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

That's okay. You're allowed to be biased about that. Yeah, you're allowed to be biased about your kids. Um, so when did you start Seize the Night?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Seize the night, I started when I was in college. I want to say it was 2008. Oh my goodness. So I was online only originally. I did Etsy, I sold in other people's shops, I did festivals, and then I didn't get my spot on the square until 2014. Okay. I want to say it was twenty. Oh, yeah, pretty sure it was 2014. It's so long ago. Somewhere around. Summer around. I've been there almost 12 years, whatever that is. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

So when you started it, I mean, when you started, you did you just start making the jewelry? Is that what you started with?

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

What I mean, I guess, how did you get into that in college?

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Uh, it's really weird. I was working at the nadatorium, I went to IEPY, and a coworker of mine was like, knew that I was kind of dabbling in that kind of stuff, and he was like, You should get on Etsy. It's this new thing that's like eBay, but it's only handmade. I mean, no one knew what it was. I'd explained it a million times. And truly, I started doing that and it took off. And I went to school for interior design, and I got laid off from my design job like in November, like right before I was gonna graduate in December. And so I was like, Well, I'm just gonna keep going with the Etsy because that was like my gas money, you know, to get downtown and back. And I was like, I'm just gonna put more to that, figure out a new design job after graduation, and it took off. So then I kind of like pushed interior design to the side and just went full force with the Etsy, and I've been doing that ever since. So you still do Etsy and stuff? Oh, yeah, yeah. Etsy is a good portion of what keeps me going too.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah, I think I mean you majority of your sales are actually through the Etsy versus walking.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Almost half and half, yeah. Okay, yeah. Okay, well, good.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Yeah, yeah, people are finding you. I'm always amazed that people are like, oh my gosh, I've never been there before. And I'm like, how have you not been there before?

SPEAKER_00 3:37

I know. I almost 12 years walk around the square on there, I promise.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Uh so how do you get your like inspiration for your jewelry? Like, I feel like you have some really cool, unique things.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Uh, it comes from a lot of different places. Um, a lot of what I do, what I used to get to go do a lot was go to estate sales and just look for for old, interesting things and see how I could repurpose them. That's how the typewriter key necklaces started. Um, I do a lot of things with like vintage papers and put them under resin, things like that. Um and then the hand stamp stuff, a lot of it comes from just funny things I see, like home decor t-shirts. Like, oh, that's kind of funny. I could play on that. I have a charm that would match with that, and I just kind of play with it from there.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

It's very cool. Um, you don't just do jewelry, you actually actually have several items. So you want to talk about some of the other things you carry in the store?

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Yeah, um, when I first started, when I didn't have a brick and mortar, I would do the festivals, and a lot of them were handmade in vintage. So I carried vintage clothing uh quite a bit in my booth. And then when I started the brick and mortar, uh I did vintage for a while, but I had a hard time sourcing it because I was at the shop all the time. I wasn't able to go to these estate sales and things to source the vintage, so that's when I started doing the boutique clothing. And I mean that in the shop, that's probably 50% clothing, 50% jewelry. So it really helps sustain me with the the boutique clothing. But I also carry um Malachi Katz art, uh, a little local boy. Oh my gosh, he's so talented. So I have his originals, I have some prints of his, I have um journals with his artwork of jewelry that we've made with his artwork. Um, so I try to carry a lot of uh gift items, but also be able to come and shop for yourself as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

I can find things for my husband. I mean, even like ball markers, which are fun. Golf ball markers. Um you know, yeah, golf ball markers. Um and then um I mean my mom. I mean, I I yeah, almost everyone in my in my life, I can find something of a little bit of a few. So where um okay, so you talked about the typewriter. What are some of the other more unique things that you can carry?

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Um, well, I I definitely like take and repurpose. I have like uh keys that I stamp into, spoon rings, um, things like that, but then with the hand stamping, I can customize just about anything. So like you've purchased before, I can do um name necklaces, birth dates, Bible verses, um, just about anything that fits onto bookmarks, necklaces, bracelets, keychains. I don't I'm sure I'm forgetting things. I've got a lot. Destination Tanta.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Yeah, I just well I just want you to tell us about it first.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Okay. Um, well, that started as a crazy idea I had in 2020. Um after being shut down and not being able to be open, starting to freak out um about how I was going to contribute. Um, things were starting to open back up, but no one was doing outdoor festivals still. And a big um festival that I do every year for over a decade has been Covered Bridge. And that's a huge part of my year, and they weren't doing it that year. And I was like, this is silly, it's outside, we can do this safely. Someone needs to step up and do it. And so it was just a small, like, I think I put it together in a month that first year. Yeah, uh, we had like around 30 vendors, um, did it in October, and it was great, everyone loved it, and we had great vendors, and it became uh uh, we probably need to do this every year, and with cover bridge coming back, I couldn't do it in October, so we moved it to June, which in hindsight, I'm like, we've had two rain years, so we're due for a good one. But when it's good, it's it's so good. Um, and we changed it, it was originally a day market, we've changed it to a night market, um, just to be something different and fun, give people something to come out and do after this time of year. There's like graduation parties and sports and things. So hopefully the evening time makes it um easier, more family friendly, and um I don't know, we just wanted to do something a little bit different. Yeah, it's so fun. So it's like you have food and you have we have food, we have handmade-only vendors and vintage. So we like let people bring in antiques and things like that, um, vintage clothing, and what we have breweries and distilleries, we have music. All the things, all the things we've tried.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

We've tried to get it all. Yeah, one of my favorite things about the market is that it is a juried market, yes. So it's not just anybody can come set up, yes, somebody's not gonna come and sell you windows at your market. Somebody's not gonna come sell you, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

I I can't remember gutters, you know, there's all the ones that you see at different markets that pop up. There's a place for that. We're just trying not to be in that place. It's me and my sister who put this on together, and so it's just her and I going through all those applications. How long does it take you? Months, months of work, but the application process, we've tried to get smarter about it. We had the applications open for so long before, and now I think we are established enough. People know about our festival enough that they're open about a month, and then we can sit down and just go through them all at once and hopefully knock it out. But I mean it's heartbreaking to have to tell people no because there's we have great vendors, it's just that we try not to overcrowd any one category. You don't want to come and see 20 jewelry vendors on one ceramic. So we only let us a certain amount in, and we have to say no to some people that are awesome, but we hope they just keep applying and then maybe we'll we'll get them in another year. Right.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

So, how many vendors roughly do you have?

SPEAKER_00 9:52

About a hundred. Um, a little over a hundred last year. We went over capacity. I feel like we we stretched out onto one of our streets that slopes slightly, and we let people know like if if we let you in, this is where you have to be. And luckily, no one had a problem with it, but I just don't I don't know how we make it any bigger than it is now. We're just dealing with the the footprint that we have, but yeah, about a hundred.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

It is we with the farmers market, we all we do the same thing where we only let so many people in and so many things, and um, we always still get feelings hurt, and yeah, it sucks. It's horrible, you know, you know, we'll have vendors that have you know kind of one type of thing, but another person has a variation, yeah. So we do, we're like, okay, and then it's still like so yes, and it's hard for the people that want to carry 10 different things, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

But I do tumblers, but I make cookies, but I do this. Like, you've got to narrow it down so we can put you in that category and be the best at what you're trying to do.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

It's hard, it's very hard. It's very hard. So the it starts at four o'clock. Yes, it goes until 10. Yes, it's on the square. Um so what are some of the more unique things that you've seen at the market?

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Oh my gosh, we have so many grape vendors. Um, the first one that comes off the top of my head, of course, is one that I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing right. Um it's coca damas. I I don't they are plant balls. So it's kind of like I'm not even sure if I'm uh describing it correctly, but it reminds me of like an airplant that I think you may dunk to um uh water it, like dunk it into water, and it sits out and it's gorgeous. I thought they were so cool. I've always wanted one. I don't get to shop my market because I'm running around before it helping everyone, and then I'm behind my register the whole time, but I'm going to get someone to go out there and get me one someday.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Husband, if you're looking at while you're out running around too, helping out that free labor. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So happy about it. We understand. My husband, or my son. Yes, but yes. Yeah. You go to the covered bridge festival. Are there other ones that you go to as well? Or is that the only one that you go to outside of there are.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

I don't do as many anymore. Um, I stopped doing so many after I got the brick and mortar, and then after my daughter, I've cut back even more. Um, I should do more. Um, I do Rocky Ripple in September. Okay. It's in late September. It's in A Little Hidden Neighborhood by Butler. And it is so fun. Oh, you should go. It's like, I want to say it starts at like 11 or noon. They're very late back and it goes to like five or six. They have um rotating life music, food, um, the breweries, I believe, and the uh quality of vendors out there. Like it's just everyone in that neighborhood is very artsy, very fun, and they attract that kind of vendor there. It's it's very fun. Girls are doing hula hooping to the music and stuff like it's very it's very laid back, barefoot fun.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

That sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

If you could um like if there's something you were like, oh, I wish we had this at our market, is there anything that you were like, oh, if a vendor is listening and they um well, we had a couple that were approved this year and then ended up like needing to back out for whatever reason, different complex or something. Um, and one of them I had seen at a festival in Franklin, and it was so cool. They did spoon rings, but like very well, and lots of different spoon items, but then they also made um it was kind of like taxeter, it was bones, it was like skulls of animals that they had reproduced. But they, I mean, people thought they were real. I mean, it was just that every little animal you could ever uh imagine. But my daughter was obsessed with them. She wanted on a like, oh my gosh, okay. But it was, it was like a little um, it was like a miniature version of uh of an animal skull. They were very I've never heard of it. No, and I don't know how it went with the spoons, but it did. It just like their whole setup was so cool, and they were I was really excited about them coming and they they had to back out.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

A lot of the vendors, did you kind of when you started, did they come from contacts that you had down at um Covered Bridge?

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Some with that. My sister does a lot. My sister owns her own business, and she does a lot more festivals than I do because she doesn't have a brick and mortar to sell out of. And so um that's kind of why I brought her in to begin with was hey, you have more contacts. Like, I know you know good vendors. Like, can you help me get this going? And then um she decided to stick around and not watch me drown with the rest of the two. So yeah, she she helps me with all the all of it now.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

All right, so if one last thing, I mean I'm gonna I'm gonna ask, and then Jocelyn will ask her last thing. But forgotten to you. Um, but so what if somebody was coming? What would you say for them to expect? Like, okay, I'm coming for the first time to this market. What is something A, I should plan for, or B, you know, what should I expect?

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Um, you should plan for having lots of fun. You should plan for um walking a lot, even though it's not the biggest footprint. You know, we're just there on uh the courthouse square. We have so many vendors and it gets busy. So you may have to maybe skip some booths and come back around whenever it's not so busy. Um you should come hungry because we've got tons of food trucks and we also have all the restaurants around the square. Um you should come uh Thursday. We have a lot of drink vendors, kombucha, um, different coffees, Kona Ice. I mean, we have so many drink vendors, and then we also have the Dora. So uh if those lines are too long, you can pop into Moki's or the tap and grab a drink and walk around in your special cup. Um but we also have breweries and distilleries coming as well. Um and you should buy it when you see it because a lot of these vendors don't have multiples, or it's I mean, it's just so well attended and uh the items are so unique that you're if you see it, you should buy it because when you come back around, it might not be there. That's good. That is great advice. I'm gonna start learning by that. Absolutely. No regrets. Let's see it. Don't have regrets.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

I like that.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Um, cash. So people bring cash more definitely. Uh most of our vendors will take credit cards, but they do take a ding on that. Um, bringing cash, cash is king. It I don't know that people will haggle with you or not, but I mean you may get a dollar off if you don't if you have cash instead of that credit card because that that credit card fee hurts when you're talking in volume like these festivals.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Okay.

unknown 17:24

Yeah, great.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Bring an umbrella. Okay. That wouldn't rain.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

That's a good sun. Exactly. You know, you might need the umbrella for the evening sun.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

If you bring an umbrella, then it won't rain.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

There you go. That's what I think. That still happens to me. If you plan for it, then it won't happen. Okay. I think that's a good if you see it and you like it, buy it. Got to. I have a demand trick.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

We have a great vendor that does um children's clothing. And she does.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Oh, yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

But only limited things. And yeah, and so that's one that my husband, I'm definitely like, I saw this, go get it before you. My daughter asked me, go get it now. Needs this drink. Get in two sizes.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Okay, my final question, which you actually might, it's fine putting you on the spot because you do the necklaces and stuff, so I'm thinking she you probably have them. Um, but I always ask a piece of like life advice or scripture or business advice or whatever that you love or you try to live by.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Ooh. Business advice or something that I try to live by.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

Um, yeah, I mean I warned you.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Uh off the top of my head, like I just try to stay true to myself and do things that uh that I can still sleep at night, you know, like uh whatever it is, like if someone comes in wanting like to return something, they've warned and uh by principle, no, right? But like let's just figure it out and like make it right for you, kind of a thing. And then I don't feel bad later that like someone like went away from my business upset or unhappy with me. Like I just try to try to just always do what what seems right in the moment. I think that's great advice.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Yeah. Because I mean I think then yeah, no regrets. Yeah. And if you can sleep at night, that's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Yeah, just like little decisions like that you have to make every day at your own business like that. That because it's only me. Like there's no playbook, you know, there's no boss telling me this is how you do things. So yeah, I'm just trying to just trying to be a good person and hope it goes back around. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

That's good. I love it. All right, Saturday, June 6th, 4 to 10. Four to ten. Um, and if you cannot make the festival, stop in and see her.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Yeah, what is your regular store or like what Well, it's about to change probably when because my daughter's Harry started kindergarten. Right now I take Mondays off to try to have one day with her. Um so right now on Tuesday through Friday, 11 to 5, and then second Saturday of every month, 10 to 2. And then if there's a festival or something like that going on, because we have quite a few events around the square all throughout the year, I try to be open for those. Um, but here in the fall, I may start being open again on Mondays because I'm not gonna have my buddy anymore. So stay tuned. I'll make 25 hours here soon.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

She'll love it. She'll love school. She's gonna be, she's so excited.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

Yeah. I'm not, but she she's very excited.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

I totally get it. So thank you for coming on with us. Thank you. We are excited about the festival and all the amazing things that you have at the shop. So you'll see us lots. Yeah. She already does it. Thank you. Thank you.