CHEYENNE, Wyo. ÔÇö More than 90 local businesses set up shop Saturday inside the Ice & Events Center for the annual Spring Cheyenne Small Business Market. Attendees had a chance to meet and adopt 3-month-old rescue dogs, too.

From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., vendors sold a variety of handcrafted merchandise such as home d├®cor, sweet treats, soap and skin care products and photographs. Roughly 1,200 people attended the event, according to marketing manager Andrea Tompkins with Simplicity 307 Vendor & Event.

Attendees also had a chance to mingle with 12 puppies with YolaÔÇÖs Pet Rescue. The organization has rescued more than 2,000 animals since its founding in 2017, according to founder and president Janet Marschner. Marschner and her organization primarily retrieve stray or abandoned animals on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming.

Many vendors produce artwork or merchandise in their spare time. For the past eight years, Kirk Shepherd of Laramie has been honing his picture-taking skills during his retirement. He runs a personal photography business, Moonlit Sage Photography, and specializes in outdoor photography. ShepherdÔÇÖs work has appeared in Wyoming Wildlife Magazine and JH Style Magazine. The tenets of getting a solid photo are patience, persistence and a little luck, he said.

Vendors from outside Wyoming appeared at the Cheyenne market as well. Jacob Keega with Imani Kenya Specialty Coffee roasts his coffee in Nebraska. Keega owns a farm in Kenya where he grows coffee beans. He exports the beans to Nebraska, where he roasts and sells his coffee, and he uses the money he makes through his business to support childrenÔÇÖs education in Kenya. Imani Kenya sells light, medium and dark roast coffee infused with hints of citrus and berry.

Simplicity 307 is set to host more local business markets in the near future. Vendors will set up shop at the fifth annual Glow in the Dark Dodgeball event Saturday, April 6 at the Event Center at Archer. The tournament is being held in coordination with the Laramie County CoronerÔÇÖs Office. Proceeds from the event will support the officeÔÇÖs Grief Support Group, a community-based volunteer group that works with families to provide emotional support and consulting services, according to Laramie…
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me at her Facebook page, Stick It Cakes By Kassi. (Jared Gendron/Cap City News)