Merchants on Bee—Savannah’s newest and largest antique, vintage and makers market—held its ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, October 22. Mayor Van Johnson as well as representatives of Buy Local Savannah, the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, the Savannah Downtown Business Association and the Tourism Leadership Council were in attendance. The ribbon cutting kicked off a weekend-long grand opening celebration through Sunday, October 25. Grand opening guests enjoyed shopping over 100 booths from local artists, makers and antique vendors as well as special vendor demos and a raffle.

Merchants on Bee pledged to donate five percent of sales from Thursday, October 22 through Sunday, October 25 to America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia, along with 100 percent of sales from grand opening raffle tickets. On Monday, October 26, store owner Donna Sapp Ball presented Second Harvest Executive Director Mary Jane Crouch with a check for $2,525. This donation will provide over 12,600 meals to locals served by the Second Harvest food bank. Merchants on Bee also held a food drive during its grand opening weekend and collected over 260 pounds of nonperishable food items for the food bank.