Add a little color to your life with EG Paintings

Editor’s Note: Each of the six businesses at the Young and Bright Pop Up Shop will be featured individually throughout the week to give each business its own spotlight. 

Winderson’s Creation’s Mary Pettenger and greener goods Tara Allen know what it’s like to be a small business owner. The duo, who have formed a relationship through their close proximity in Sangamon on Main, decided to extend an opportunity to young business owners in the Young and Bright Pop Up Shop on Aug. 22. 

The event showcased nine young entrepreneurs with a wide variety of services and products. 

“I had no idea there were so many little entrepreneurs in Mahomet,” Allen said. “They’re so cute and they’re so good at what they do.”

“We saw them out there and knew that they needed, probably a place to come and just share all their stuff,” Pettenger said.

Allen said it’s the theme across Sangamon on Main, “stronger together.”

“We are super supportive of each other as businesses, and so it was nice to have the opportunity to support the younger kids that really, during this COVID crisis, have started their businesses and found their passion.”

With the Mahomet Farmer’s Market outside on the sidewalk, Allen and Pettenger knew that an extension into the building where children could offer their goods would be beneficial to all. 

“We’ve had a great turnout,” Pettenger said. “As often as the kids want to come back and do it, I’d be willing to host them in here and then of course we have the room in the hallway.”

EG Paintings

When passion met extra time in the spring of 2020, Elena Gebauer decided she could begin a business. 

The teenager from Farmer City who has always enjoyed painting showcased her work at the Young and Bright Pop-Up Shop at Sangamon on Main Saturday.

“I’ve been painting for a while,” Gebauer, owner of EG Painting, said. “I just started selling at Winderson’s Creations.”

Gebauer said that the hobby she finds relaxing was helpful during the changes of 2020. She took to Pinterest for inspiration, creating canvas paintings and magnets with scenes from nature or iconic images with a spin. 

“I have painted a lot since quarantine started,” she said. “I still painted a lot before that, but especially since we were quarantined I painted extra.”

To see more from EG Paintings, visit Facebook or Winderson’s Creations.