For a Saturday in April, the wedding venue Twin Oaks Barn at Umstead Ranch became a shopping center.

The merchants were many and varied — a maker of barbecue sauce, a custom embroiderer, a seller of children’s clothing.

“I try to get as many local handmade products as possible, people who make their stuff,” said Justine Maas, the vendor fair’s organizer and the owner of The Happy Hippie, a crystal shop.

The April vendor fair was Maas’ third. “It’s to bring exposure to the barn and my business," said Maas, whose parents own Twin Oaks Barn, which is near Clayton. “But it’s more about community, bringing everyone together.”

Not surprisingly, the vendor fairs were born during the pandemic, which proved hard on retailers that didn’t meet the state’s definition of essential.

“We were in the middle of the pandemic, and it was something to do, something to look forward to and to help these small businesses make it through,” Maas said.

Jill Thomas of Wheels Up BBQ Sauce has been with Maas for all three vendor fairs. “It is a great location,” she said of the barn, which is on Cornwallis Road. “We get a lot of traffic coming through, and people are great.”

Her business is a tribute to her late husband, Thomas said. “Wheels Up BBQ Sauce is based on my husband’s original recipe, and he passed away last year unexpectedly,” she said. “He was a pilot, and so I decided to take off with it and see where his barbecue sauce will go.”

So far, so good, Thomas said. “Right now, we are located at the Johnston County Airport, at Low and Slow Smokehouse,” she said. “We are in three places in Raleigh, and we are at the Market at Three Little Birds in Clayton.”

Posh + Paige was making its debut at the barn.

“We are an online children’s boutique,” said owner Autumn Ragan. “We carry boys and girls’ clothing from infant sizes to sizes 10-12, and all the brands we carry are from other small businesses here in the U.S.”

“Our signature boys’ collection is Saltwater Boys Co.,” Ragan added. “It is based out in Georgia, and it is owned by a mom. Bailey’s Blossoms is our signature girls’ collection, and it is based out in Texas and is also owned by a mom.

“We do family collections, so we have mommy and me, and daddy and me. We try to have something for the whole family.”

Posh + Paige regularly attends vendor markets in the Triangle. “Most of the events we have done have been in Clayton, and we do a lot at the Clayton General Store,” Ragan said. “This is our first time at the Umstead. It’s a lot of fun.”

Tammi and Jason Sawey launched their business, Just Threads Embroidery, after retiring from the U.S. Army, although they still have day jobs at Fort Bragg.

“For most people, when they retire, they don’t have anything to do,” Jason said.

That can prove especially problematic for retired military personnel, he said. “The ones that don’t have anything to do after they get out are the ones that usually tend to have issues,” Jason said. “They sit at home a lot, are depressed or disgruntled about whatever because they don’t have anything to keep them occupied.”

So the Saweys launched Just Threads Embroidery after a friend more or less put them on the spot.

“A buddy of mine ... posted a golf towel with our old unit logo on it on his Facebook page,” Jason said. “And other people were like ‘Where did you get that? I want one.’ He told them, ‘I had it made, but Jason can get you something.’ ”

The thing was, “we didn’t do embroidery then,” Jason said. “So I had to buy the machines and the towels and figured it couldn’t be that hard.”

Today, the Saweys embroider everything from hats to gun cases.

“We have two larger machines, and we can get the gun bags on those machines,” Jason said. “We do them for a ranch in Colorado that takes veterans on hunts every year.”

Maas was happy with her third vendor fair, which featured an Easter theme, with the Easter Bunny and face painting.

“It’s cool,” she said. “The kids can run around, and again it’s more about inviting the community to the property and letting them look around, meet people, and network.”

“It’s been great,” she added. “We’ve met tons of people, and they all have different talents and things that they do, and it’s nice.”