An excess of handmade jewelry and encouragement from friends convinced McMaster science student Margaret Qin to try selling her work at the Hamilton Art Crawl last summer.  

She acquired a table for free from Facebook Marketplace, lugging it onto the bus along with grocery bags full of her art, which until this point she’d only shared with family and friends. She was full of excitement, but also terrified of selling for the first time in public – it’s a scary thing, to put yourself and your work on display.   

She arrived and set up – and then it started pouring rain.   

“I definitely got a well-rounded experience,” she said. “There’s nothing I can really do when it’s already raining. You kind of just have to stand there.”  

But Qin is not easily deterred. She kept going, sheltering from the rain the first day and vending at more events in summer and fall 2024, including another Art Crawl and McMaster’s Homecoming.  

Selling art requires adaptability, the ability to talk to anyone, and the strength to accept rejection repeatedly. “I can get a thousand ‘no’s’ and then still look for the one ‘yes’. Sometimes that’s all you need,” Qin said. “Sometimes you have to forget about the track record.”  

As winter approached, and summer events wound down, she sought out more vending opportunities. But she started to hit financial barriers: Selling in MUSC, for example, would require paying a daily $199+tax fee for use of the space. It was hard to justify the risk of that investment, especially as a student watching every penny.  

But she was still not deterred. Qin works part-time at the Union Market, and her boss, Mike Asquith, also manages the Grind Cafe. She pitched him her idea for a Grind Market: An event for McMaster students to sell their own work, whether it was handmade, curated, or collected, with minimal barriers to entry and the opportunity to connect with artistic peers and create a community space. 

Asquith agreed to provide the space, if Qin would run it.  

Qin remembers the feeling of elation. “He trusted the idea. I trusted the idea. Now I just needed to trust myself that I could pull it off.” 

She had to learn a lot, from figuring out how to promote the event to creating forms to accept vendor applications. She wanted to make it as easy as possible for students to take part – she didn’t want anyone to have to lug a table on the bus, for example – so she made participation free for sellers, provided tables, tablecloths and chairs, and didn’t require them to share a cut of their profits or even report how much they made. She also prioritized first-time vendors, encouraging people to give it a try and assuring them that “sometimes it’s a lot less scary than what you’re imagining.”  

She had 14 vendors at the Grind Market. The event, in January, was a success: The Grind saw increased traffic, the space was full of life and the response from attendees and vendors was very positive.   

Qin made sure to tell her vendors that she was still learning, too, alongside them, and made a point of collecting anonymous feedback from participants so that she could continue to improve.  

And then she got started on the next one. 

At the second Grind Market, in March, Qin expanded to 21 vendors, pairing returning vendors with new ones, so that they could build community and support each other. She walked around on the day-of, making sure everyone was doing okay – the henna artist, the live musicians, the poet, the portraitist – and exchanging subtle thumbs-ups if they were with a customer.  

Selling can be hard – but also very rewarding. “For me, the biggest part is just getting over that initial boundary inside of like, ‘do I have something worth sharing? Is what I’m saying actually helping other people?’ A lot of it comes down to having that belief in yourself.”  

King William West Fest 

In June, Qin saw the City of Hamilton had released a call for Marketplace Organizer Proposals.  

“’Marketplace organizer.’ I had never even seen those words put together,” Qin said. “But as I thought about it, I’m like, is that not me? I think that’s similar to what I did.”  

She was taking a class at the time at McMaster’s downtown campus, on Urban Planning and Innovation, with the Office of Community Engagement. Qin, a Human Behaviour student, loves to pursue a wide variety of classes that pique her interest.   

Their classroom overlooked King William Street – and Qin began to dream about running a festival there, in the new pedestrian-friendly area surrounded by art.  

In between classwork, Qin would work on her application for the City. They asked for a one- to three-page proposal; she wrote six, planning every detail. Unsurprisingly, her proposal was accepted.   

She was going to run a one-day outdoor marketplace on King William, with the support of the City of Hamilton and Downtown Hamilton BIA.  

The King William West Fest will take place on August 30, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. It’s less than a week away, “both a great place to be and also a stressful one.”  

People can expect a celebration for all ages, with live music, fun and games, Qin said. “A day of joy.” Young adult vendors will be selling handmade art – including a handful she’s bringing with her from the Grind Market.  

“It’s just the best,” Qin said. “They’ve watched me succeed… even around the first market, I was like, ‘Guys, I’m so nervous.’ They’re like, ‘We’re nervous too. But we’re so excited.’”  

She’s partnered with local businesses to provide day-of discounts for attendees, something that’s hugely helped by the City’s support. “I’ve never had a backing like that before,” Qin said. “That gives a sense of legitimacy, and [businesses] are willing to hear me out for another 30 seconds.”    

The participating businesses so far include Mystic Ramen, Vintage Soul Geek, Last Supper Books, and Merit Brewing, which is owned by a Mac grad and DeGroote School of Business entrepreneur-in-residence, Tej Sandhu.  

For the first time, Qin also has event sponsors. With the support of the Office of Community Engagement at McMaster and graphic design agency Creative Guild, she was able to further reduce fees for artists and compensate jazz and funk musicians, as well as photographers, for the festival.   

Students are ‘part of the community’  

She wanted the Aug. 30 date as it’s the end of Welcome Week at McMaster. While the event is for the whole Hamilton community, she’s hoping it also encourages first-years to come out and start to get to know their new city.  

“I didn’t have that much of an idea about Hamilton’s art community before coming here,” Qin said. “Frankly, the high school student in me didn’t see a need to look at the city that I was planning to move to for four years.”  

But since she’s been here, she’s discovered an incredible art scene. Qin now regularly goes to art activations, jazz nights and more around Hamilton. “You’re part of the community,” Qin said.  

And she loves nothing more than getting to bring more people into that community. With every project, “the best part is that it’s never limited just to me. It would bring no purpose if it was.”  

Looking ahead at the upcoming school year, she’s planning to run more Grind Markets, and has confidence that she’s going to find another passion project, as well. “I have such an assurance that something will find me, whatever it may be.”   

In the meantime, Qin is excited to see people enjoy the King William West Fest – and feel the relief of having the event safely behind her.  

“I can finally close all my tabs.”