Megan Navarro
BUDA — An event is coming back to the city of Buda this spring and this time, it will be in conjunction with South of South By (SoSX).
Buda-ful Fest is an exhibition to celebrate the local innovators and small business owners in the community. It will highlight the Buda Home for Innovators, Visionaries and Entrepreneurs (HIVE) cohort participants, who have spent the last eight weeks in the program.
Once the cohort participants graduate from there, they will have the opportunity at Buda-ful Fest to interact with the public, where they can showcase their business models and strategies through a live pitch competition. According to Jacquie Martinez, assistant director of small business initiatives for the Buda Economic Development Corporation (EDC), it’s almost like a science fair for adults with their businesses.
“[It’s] giving the entrepreneurs and the small businesses the opportunity to share their ideas, their businesses, with the general public and some of the individuals are coming into the HIVE as brand new businesses. They're coming in with just an idea and filing their paperwork out with the help of our incubator strategist and through those eight weeks of programming, they're doing their exercises and actually creating their business plans and now ready to initiate a full-fledged business,” she said. “So, this is really their opportunity to kind of show that and share that with the general public. Other individuals are coming in at different stages of their business, but still looking for that opportunity to be out there in the public.”
There will be a variety of budding small businesses and entrepreneurs that attendees can expect to see at the event, Martinez shared. This ranges from a pop-up bookstore, a wellness coach, an attorney opening up their own practice, a children’s museum, a fashion boutique and a professional photographer.
Another component of Buda-ful Fest this year is it will be in conjunction with SoSX — the city’s way of bringing the live, free music that could be found at South by Southwest to the local area, rather than residents having to travel to Austin to enjoy it.
“I think it gives an opportunity to add a little diversity, so it's bringing people in to enjoy music. We would love to have music regardless at the Buda-ful Fest and it sets the tone,” Martinez explained. “Now that we're already in March and it is South by [Southwest] time, we're doing live music instead, so it's just an opportunity to really combine the diversity of people and who it attracts. I think most everybody loves music. Most everybody loves small businesses and frequents small businesses, sometimes you just don't even realize who is in your community. It's our way of just opening it up.”
The musical lineup will start with the band “Matagorda” from 5-6 p.m. and then, the headliner will be Ian Stewart from “Asleep at the Wheel,” beginning at 9 p.m.
Buda-ful Fest will be Thursday, March 12, at Buck’s Backyard, located at 1750 FM 1626. While the event is free to the public, registration is required for access to the networking, pitch competition and panel discussion.
Learn more at the following links:
• Buda-ful Fest: bit.ly/4qV81FN
• Buda EDC: www.budaedc.com
• Buda HIVE: www.budaedc.com/hive
