SHOP LOCAL. SHOP SMALL. SHOP NATIVE. MADE.

“A gathering of Native creatives, businesses, educators and other community change agents to immerse people into Native culture in an engaging, meaningful and impactful way. “

Saturday, November 26th, 2022

11am - 6pm

Free & Open To The Public

WHY THE NATIVE. MADE. MARKET?

A Relationship With Food

It all started with a passion for food and fellowship. To meet people where they're at and provide help in an intentional and compassionate way. 

When I first met my husband, our first date included a home cooked meal. I was sick at the time and he made me a meal where the ingredients came from a co-op, all organic. Over a meal, he shared with me that he believed the most intimate relationship we have is with food. We become what we eat. I also witnessed the joy it brought him to cook for someone else and that night I knew I was going to marry him someday.

We also have a shared passion for exploring different cultures through food. We both love to travel and it wasn’t until after I met him I went abroad. But through the years of him cooking for me, I traveled the world through his food. Fast forward a few years from when we met, and we began volunteering cooking at the Hope Lodge Hospitality House. Here they provide a free place for cancer patients and their caregivers to stay while receiving treatment if they live more than 40 miles away. We believe food can be used to heal our bodies from the inside out and we wanted to provide intentional home cooked meals that would help restore and refuel these guests.

Fast forward a few more years. We opened POP ROC initially as a pop up comic and collectible shop where we would set up at toy shows and comic cons. But there was always this desire to have a restaurant of our own. In 2018 we took the leap of faith and opened a café and collectible shop, bringing everything we had to the table in an effort to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

Our current mission at POP ROC is to share joy through food, service, and experiences with a core focus on service in and out of our shop.

Chef Challenges and Free Lunch Fridays

In April we began a "Chef Challenge and Free Lunch Friday". We invite guest chefs and community organizations to collaborate together in an effort to offer folks a free lunch on the fourth Friday of the month. What makes this event a challenge is that the chef gets the main ingredients one week ahead of time and then has to create a plate that will feed 75-100 people out of it. We open our doors to anyone and everyone who wants a seat at the table, no questions asked, and everyone is offered an exceptional meal for free.

This idea was birthed out of the pandemic while volunteering to cook hundreds of meals a week for The Father’s Heart Ministry, a mobile food truck ministry that goes out faithfully every week to feed those in need. 

Oftentimes when we show up, we have no idea what we’re making until that day. We take it seriously and try to make delicious meals out of whatever gets donated. It can be a challenge, but we’re always making something delicious with the opportunity.

The fourth Friday of November happens to be the day after Thanksgiving, Native American Heritage Day, and our eighth consecutive Free Lunch Friday. When I realized this, it was important to me as an Indigenous woman to try and invite a guest chef who is Indigenous. I saw this as an opportunity to introduce our community to Native culture through food. Traditional Thanksgiving doesn't pay homage to Indigenous peoples and this was a way to share truth and empathy.

Truth be told, it's been difficult finding a guest Native chef, and as of today (11/2) I am still looking. This is eye opening in several ways which I'll get into at a later time. So please share the word we are still searching for a Native chef to participate this month. They can also fill out the Chef Application below.

Small Business Saturday

Going back to our why. It started with the need to feed our community. Introducing folks to Native culture through food was the start. Then we realized that Small Business Saturday was the next day. So on small business Saturday when folks are encouraged to shop local and shop small, we felt it appropriate to encourage folks to shop Native made. We recognize we are on Native land and what is more local than shopping Indigenous? Thus the NATIVE. MADE. Market was born and on Saturday, November 26, 2022, folks can come together to honor Native culture of the past, present and future.

Past, Present and Future

I say past because we need to reflect on where we have been and where we are now, on so many levels. What has been told to us in the past isn't entirely true and some are flat out lies. We have to look at tradition, and listen to the stories being shared of what happened to our parents, grandparents, and ancestors. We even need to reflect on ourselves and our experiences that brought us here today. Our present includes the work we are doing now. And the future is looking at our children and the story we are writing for them and future generations. What we are doing now to keep tradition alive, to find what has been lost, to fight for rights and the life of our planet, to preserve our stories, and protect the progress we are making is what this is all about. We are here to celebrate Thanksgiving in a different way. What does this relationship between communities look like today, and what could it look like tomorrow?

The Heart Beats

Hosting this event in the heart of downtown Rochester is significant. POP ROC was once on a major artery to the city, East Avenue. Now our location is in the heart of the city which means we have a bigger responsibility. The heart pumps blood through the body and our body is our people, our communities. Our core values at POP ROC are fun, creativity, community and safety, and at the heart of everything we do is service in and out of our shop. When it comes to building up our community and providing a safe, fun and creative space for all to enjoy, we take this responsibility seriously. When I step outside our shop at a first glance I see people of all ages and races, with the exception of Native Americans. But when I started intentionally looking, it only took a small step to see that while Indigenous peoples are the minority of minorities, there is Indigenous representation here and is very active in this community. This was another eye opening experience.

What We Hope To Achieve

• Increase Indigenous exposure, education and empathy.

• Use the resources available to us to bring attention to and receive education from Native American people.

• It’s difficult to push outsiders to the reservations, museums, and cultural centers etc. to learn about Native traditions and culture. The lack of desire, knowledge, time, money, and transportation all provide barriers to bridging the gap. I believe we can have a bigger impact by inviting Natives from different tribes and regions to Rochester NY.

• We want to invite people who live, work, visit and play downtown to witness and experience Native American culture and aim to make this experience easily accessible for all.

• I also believe this is an opportunity to teach in a loving way, and offer healing and forgiveness during a time of mourning. 

I hope this encourages you to participate in the market in some way! Whether you are a guest, a volunteer, sponsor, performer, educator, or someone interested in potentially participating in years to come, I hope you join us. Please visit our Linktree to learn more about our participants and the event. Thank you for letting me share!

- Angelina Hilton - Event Curator, Co-Founder POP ROC, Founder Variant Ventures LLC, Member of the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska and of Iowa descent.