ElenaBurt

Have you heard of Junkstock? No, it is not a pile of junk out in the middle of nowhere. It is an event nearby in Waterloo, Nebraska where local and regional small businesses bring in their best items and sell them under tents. The purpose of this event is to highlight how you can make awesome items through recycling, or frankly, out of junk.  

The Spring Junkstock was held on the weekends of April 25-27 and May 2-4. With a different theme every year, this year’s was “Junkstock By the Sea.” More than 250 vendors come to this USA TODAY acclaimed Top 10 Best Festival in Waterloo from all over the country. Here, you can find all things vintage, antiques, handmade food, handmade goods, re-purposed relics and even live music. 

Freshman Ella Turner attended the first weekend of Junkstock this spring. Her impression was that it is awesome and super fun. “I was asked to go by my cousin. I loved the theme and the whole idea of many vendors in one place, as well as [thrifting],” Turner said. 

Enjoying the variety of tents, a thrift- lover like Turner dabbled into some spending. Turner said, “I liked the thrift store vendors and bought a pair of Doc Martens and a wind up clock.”

“I think it’s a good place and event for small businesses to get recognition,” Turner said. Waterloo is a ways away from the city of Omaha’s civilization, as some would say. So many of those who showed up to Junkstock made it a trip. For Turner, “it was about a 20-minute drive, and totally worth it.”

The people who put together this event make it a point for it to be enjoyable for everyone, from little kids, to elders and to pets. Turner said, “if you choose to go, make sure to bring your dog if you have one.” 

Spencer Wheeler and his wife have recently started their small business, AJClayCo., and have been vendors at Junkstock since 2021. “During COVID my wife and I got really bored,” Wheeler said. 

As the international population grew bored of quarantining, so did this couple. “My wife wanted to start doing something with her time, so while we were in lockdown, she started making clay earrings,” Wheeler said. She started by making some cute earrings for herself, and then she shared them with friends; eventually she began posting her new hobby on Instagram. 

She started making some money, and “once we got outside of lockdown, we started going to craft fairs,” Wheeler said. He said that his job in this small business is to help out his wife. “I help with the sanding, the carding and assembling, but she’s primarily the one who does the styling and designing of the earrings.”

Wheeler said he thinks Junkstock is a great event, backed by a meaningful cause. “It allows a lot of people from all across the country to come to Nebraska and have a really good time, eat lots of great food, and look around at other vendors. Obviously, there’s a sense of being able to re-purpose stuff here. People are able to bring in stuff that otherwise would be thrown to the side, and be able to recycle and reuse them in a lot of different capacities.”

He is fond of one of Junkstock’s main rules: if you are bringing any goods, you have to make them yourself. He said, “It gives a sense of pride and purpose to the vendors because the things that are being brought here and sold is stuff that is made by the people who are attending these events, and not just some manufacturer.”

Stay tuned for the fall version of Junkstock on the weekends of Oct. 3-5 and Oct. 10-12.