Cafes that seek to build community offer much more than just a good cup of coffee. They create a space where people come to connect, share, and create. These places don’t only serve coffee, but they serve their communities by making everyone feel at home. And that's exactly what's been brewing at Culture Coffee.
On August 1st, Culture brought the community together with coffee, art, and good vibes at their first-ever local night market.
Culture Coffee baristas Heidi Duran Martinez and Izzy Lovato took a vision of building community and made it happen through Culture’s first night market. Photo by Estefania De Lucas.
“We wanted to give our neighbors something to do on a Friday night and bring everybody together,” said Barista Izzy Lovato. “We wanted to invite everyone we could to join us and share this space — to showcase what we’ve built because of the love from the community.”
The vision behind Culture’s night market was to create a space where neighbors could hang out after hours while supporting local vendors.
“Especially now, it’s the time when you have to support local,” added Barista Heidi Duran Martinez. “Try to get your gifts for the year at a market, a place where the money goes directly to the people. There is power in supporting them. We have a little bit of power, and we are going to use that.”
Izzy added, “We wanted to create not just a fun, cool space, but a safe space, especially for minorities. We’re so grateful to be that platform, because there aren’t many spaces like this. And we’re very thankful to have the chance to do this.”
All good things take solid planning and a good team. Izzy and Heidi shared that Culture managed to pull everything together in just about a month and a half.
Federico created ‘Love Yourself’ as a way to pull himself out of a place of self-hatred. Photo by Estefania De Lucas.
“It’s honestly just about who you know,” Izzy said. “Collectively, we know a lot of amazing people, a lot of cool artists. And we wanted to host that. We’d been talking about doing a market for a while now, but we really got things kicking in gear, just a month and a half out.”
Heidi added, “We all work really well together, and we pulled it off together, as a team.”
The night market not only celebrated Culture’s place in the community but also other local vendors’ visions. With food trucks, treats, photographs, clothing, jewelry, pottery, painting, live music, and more, this was a place where neighbors could network creatively and build connections.
Samira is a local pottery artist who encourages anyone who wants to learn how to do pottery to “just go for it.” Photo by Estefania De Lucas.
There was excitement from those who attended — and from the vendors themselves — each of whom were ready to share their art and passion with the community.
Federico is the creator of Love Yourself. He once found himself in a place of deep self-hatred. But from that place of darkness, his art was born. Now, he uses his art to help others learn to love themselves too. He demonstrates it in everything he creates, from photos, graphics and more. He lives on words of encouragement his mom once shared with him: “Fear nothing, and never say you can’t.”
Zach is a photographer who aims to showcase the beauty of Utah — beauty that he says is threatened by political moves. Photo by Estefania De Lucas.
Samira, a local pottery artist, shared how her craft has become a part of her life. “My craft has become a way to make functional and meaningful gifts,” she said. “A lot of people wait for someone to do things with, specifically pottery, it’s seen as a date-night activity, but my advice is just go for it. If you want to learn it just go for it.”
Zach is creator of Zach Brad Ford Images. He shared a bit about the meaning behind his work, saying “most of my work is landscape based. I want to show what we have here in Utah. Show the true Utah. We are in a time politically where it’s threatened, and my hope is by sharing my photographs, people notice that this is something that we have but we could lose.” He shared advice to local photographers, saying “be consistent. The more consistent you are the better you will be at what you love”
Tabitha got into knitting after her father passed away. Since then, that passion has turned into tables and tables full of knitted items. Photo by Estefania De Lucas.
Tabitha, a local knitter, began her craft nine years ago after her dad’s passing — using this kind of craft to fill the hole left in her heart. Since then, her passion has grown into tables full of knitted items. “It’s so hard for me to sell my pieces,” she shared. “Because I create them in specific times of my life, so they become a part of it.” Her words to someone who is just starting: “It’s one step at a time, don’t tell yourself you can’t do it, just keep going”
“This is just our first step,” Izzy said. “We love to create places for everybody to lift themselves up and be a part of it. We are just getting ready to amp up a bunch more stuff, and hopefully everybody responds like they have now, in an amazing positive way.
Culture Coffee is for the people, with the people, Heidi added. "We will also be donating 100% of the proceeds from table fees to an immigration clinic, all of it, 100%." She also gave a special shoutout to The Food Justice Coalition for their collaboration.
Culture is bringing a bond between communities and coffee. This local coffee shop is becoming the heart of the neighborhood where people can celebrate, bond, and express themselves.