Markets, for one reason or another, have always attracted sapphics. Some suggest we never quite shook the “back-to-the-land” movements of the 1970s that connected lesbians with sustainable agriculture and small-scale communal living.
Whatever the reason, we regularly find ourselves hopping from booth-to-booth in pursuit of vegan croissants and enameled pins. But it would be hard to find a regular Tampa Bay market with more queer vendors and operators than New Moon Makers’ Market.
New Moon brands itself as an independent market “highlighting the weird that still remains in our ever-changing landscape.” The market follows the cycle of the new moon to highlight the themes of change, rebirth and potential.
Change was certainly needed when New Moon’s founder, Artemis, first began selling their insect-based work at markets around 5 years ago. “I was going to events and people were genuinely turning their noses up at my stuff because it’s, you know, it’s a little queer,” Artemis told The Sapphic Sun.
Artemis recalled their first market, where they had a hard time selling their wares. “I was sat next to a lady that was selling socks. I walked over and I was like, ‘Oh my god, these are awesome.’” The sock-seller told Artemis that she buys the socks and resells them at a higher price. “She almost sold out that night,” Artemis said.
New Moon Makers’ Market
Time Sun., May 17, 3-7 p.m. and Second Sunday of every month, 3-7 p.m. Continues through Dec. 20
Location Allendale United Methodist Church, 3803 Haines Rd. N, St. Petersburg
Armed with this perspective, Artemis wanted to start a new market that would accept weirdos, do away with the high barrier to entry and only allow people who make their own products. In 2021, they gathered a grand total of seven artist friends in a backyard and had a successful first night. New Moon then graduated to a furniture store parking lot before eventually moving to Allendale UMC, a church that’s gained a reputation for its ultra-progressive pastor and the “Abolish ICE” projection displayed on the outside of the church nightly.
“I blinked and I missed it,” Artemis told The Sapphic Sun of the market’s rapid expansion. “I don’t know how this happened. Five years, that’s like you’re going to kindergarten, no?”
New Moon toddled its way into being among the queerest of local markets. “That wasn’t the intention when we set out, but it was kind of like a ‘build it and they will come’ thing,” Artemis said. “[Maybe] it was sort of just something that trickled in over time, or maybe it was all at once and everyone got the message. But we are queer-led, founded, and majority queer-vended.”
New Moon charges less than half of some larger local markets, dubbed “monster markets” by Artemis. Indie Flea charges an application fee that struggling artists won’t get back, even if they’re rejected. After this, applicants pay a minimum $150 vendor fee. For someone just starting out, it’s not certain that they’ll make their money back.
New Moon charges no application fee and a $70 vendor fee for a spot of equivalent size. They also have smaller booths for a lower price, and a work trade agreement is available for vendors who can’t afford the fee. “I think putting vendors before profit happens a lot more often with the smaller markets,” Artemis said.
Change is a theme of New Moon, but Artemis believes that even a changing landscape needs to preserve what’s positive. “New Moon reminds us why we love our city, our neighbors and our crafts, which we must fight for now more than ever,” the market’s website reads.
Artemis wants to capture and elevate St. Pete’s unique creative energy, one they say has been drowned out by the homogenous “tech bro and yoga babe” demographic that’s flooded the city. “With that sort of person coming in, it really shifts what they’re looking for at markets. So I think market curation has changed a lot,” Artemis said.
To help preserve local flavor, New Moon’s curation prioritizes independent local creators who “reflect the diversity and uniqueness of St. Pete itself, both in medium and in persons,” according to the vendor application. They only allow vendors who make the products they sell, and vendors can’t use AI in their product creation or marketing.
Artemis said that there have been a lot of positive changes in the local market scene, too. Small markets themed around cats and secondhand finds have given them hope for the future ability of small creators to break into a class-stratified vendor scene.
“There’s so many little microcosms all over the greater tri-county area,” Artemis said. “The people on the periphery, on the fringe, seem to go to these little hyper-specific spots. I think it’s literally so beautiful that all these people, independently, are figuring out what’s missing and how they can fill it and how to fucking do it. Because DIY till I die, you know. No one else is going to do it for you.”
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This article appears in May 07 – 13, 2026.