The inaugural SCV Day attracted dozens of local businesses to set up shop Saturday in the parking lot of the Creekside Plaza located at the northeast corner of Magic Mountain Parkway and Valencia Boulevard.
Santa Clarita residents enjoyed booths set up by a variety of businesses and community groups, including food trucks and the Rotary Satellite Club of the Santa Clarita Valley, which organized the event.
Jason Downs, the club chair, said fellow Rotarian Laura Munoz developed the idea for an event promoting local businesses.
The event, Downs said, was “a love letter to Santa Clarita after a long year and a half, especially for businesses.”
Vendors sold their goods, while searching for local talent at the same time.
“This event was free to all businesses to find people in the community who need work,” he said.
Jade Villanueva, of Santa Clarita, had set up a tent for her succulent business, Modern Succulent, which donates all of its proceeds to support education for children in the Philippines.
“This is the first event in a while ever since COVID,” said Villanueva, who heard about the event on Facebook. “I was a little bit late (to register) so I was one of the backup vendors. And then thankfully I was able to get a place.”
She said she had a successful day at SCV Day.
“We’ve given our business card and we’re just hoping that it spread out so that we can help more children,” Villanueva said.
A few rows away, Kathy Card, of Santa Clarita, was holding down her tent for Damsel in Defense, which equips, empowers and educates women and families on how to protect themselves from being targets of crime.
She described SCV Day as “incredible” for her business.
“Very, very, very busy today,” she said of the day’s pace. “The big seller today… (has been) the bulletproof insert. Mostly people buy it for backpacks.”
Andre Surgick enjoyed SCV Day with his parents and siblings.
“The balloon lady was amazing,” he said carrying balloons freshly twisted into the form a light saber by Kelly Sechler.
Andre’s sister, Nyasia Surgick, had just received a glitter tattoo. “There was good music and nice people,” she said of her experience.
A community experience was what Pilar Molina hoped for when she got a call from the Rotary Satellite Club.
Molina manages the property where the first SCV Day was held. She said she was happy to support Rotary in making Saturday’s event a reality.
“When (Laura) told me about it, the first thing I thought is ‘Bringing the community together, helping our tenants thrive,’” she said. “So, I said ‘Absolutely. I’m on board.’”
Downs called the event a “smashing success” and shared that the city has expressed interest in partnering for the next SCV Day, which, he said, may feature more than 100 vendors.
