Local small businesses impacted by Helene find maker space to sell items [Video]

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (WJHL) – Many local small businesses impacted by Hurricane Helene found refuge at Mountain Made A Maker’s Collective pop-up space in downtown Elizabethton.

Some vendors have damaged inventory from Helene, while others lost out on sales from canceled festivals.

Mountain Made opened on Oct. 1, just a few days after Helene hit. Owner Abigail Francis said after giving it a lot of thought, she went ahead with opening the pop-up space to help impacted vendors.

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Many festivals, including the National Storytelling Festival, the Apple Festival and the Woolly Worm Festival were canceled.

“And the makers in this shop were supposed to be part of those events, and some of them even lost property through the flooding,” Francis said. “And what they had in here was all they had left. So they were …