KRVC launches new pop-up market to support local businesses and artists

I wanted to incorporate small, home-based businesses into the community.”

Laura Levine-Pinedo

A new market has taken form this summer at Kingsbridge-Riverdale-Van Cortlandt Development Corporation, a space with a long history of community-building.

While KRVC has been around since the 1980s, the monthly community pop-up market was established in June by Laura Levine-Pinedo, who became interim executive director of KRVC last month.

Levine-Pinedo of the 4Bronx Project, affiliated with KRVC since 2020, and had previously collaborated with market manager Peggy Garcia on various community initiatives. 

Garcia, a longtime Riverdale resident, is also the founder of PrayEatLoveBake LLC — a home baking business she started during the pandemic.

The market features a rotating selection of vendors every month, highlighting local businesses and some from upper Manhattan. This month’s event showcased soy candles, jewelry, beauty products and acrylic crafts and canvases.

Beyond the market, the space also hosts monthly networking meetups and regular art events.

“It’s very hard having a home-based business,” Levine-Pinedo said, “We do not charge the vendors; it’s absolutely free, which is how we’re different. I wanted to incorporate small home-based businesses into the community.”

One such business is Kristol Creations by Rebecca Kristol.

Born and raised in Riverdale, Kristol is a special-education teacher who became an acrylic artist by chance. During a visit to a modern-art museum, she felt inspired to try painting herself. Her work varies from marbled, brightly-colored pieces of jewelry and homeware that resemble aerial views of planets, to more subdued canvas pieces with an opalescent sheen. The combined effect is kaleidoscopic, capturing the eye of many who pass by her market stand.

While this is Kristol’s first experience at the KRVC market, her art has enabled her to become even more active within the community. A member of the Riverdale Art Association, her painting, “Parahelia,” was featured in its September exhibition last year. 

More recently, at the Riverdale Main Streets Alliance Block Party, Kristol held acrylic painting lessons for kids, providing canvases, paint and protective clothing. The response was overwhelming, with a line of kids eager to participate until her supplies ran out. 

Shira Silverman of the Riverdale Y market was impressed and expressed a desire for Kristol to teach at her market. Initially, Silverman assumed this collaboration might not be feasible because she couldn’t offer payment — however, Kristol offered to teach for free. 

Kristol’s commitment to art has not been simple. Her first solo show, at the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture, took place the day after her mother was diagnosed with brain cancer. Although she was in no state of mind to proceed, her mother insisted she continue with the show. Kristol recalls remembering little about the event except collapsing in tears at the end. Despite this, and with the community’s support, she has continued to do local shows.

Kristol also recently did a show at the Methodist Home for Nursing and Rehabilitation, where her mother was in rehab. After a wine-and-cheese reception, a misunderstanding led the residents to believe the paintings were being given away and they began taking them. Kristol’s mother called her in alarm, but Kristol was unfazed, saying, “They are 90-plus years old, they can’t afford my paintings. If it brings them this much joy, let them enjoy it — I can always make more.”

For Kristol, the most important aspect of her art is it finds a way into the community. Pointing to a cluster of iridescent heart-shape necklaces, she said if they do not sell over the next few shows, she plans to donate them to residents at the Atria Senior Living Facility. 

She hopes to return to the KRVC market sometime this autumn.