A first-ever Small Business Marketplace, focusing on Latino-owned businesses from across Marin County, will take place Sunday, May 17, in San Rafael’s Canal District.

The event will feature local vendors selling handmade jewelry, recycled art décor, sustainable fashion and custom gifts, along with food offerings including Mexican street food, Yucatecan cuisine and Guatemalan dishes. A local fitness studio also will provide information on community classes.

“Small businesses are the backbone of Marin’s economy, and Latino entrepreneurs play a critical role in that ecosystem,” said Omar Carrera, CEO of Canal Alliance, a nonprofit that serves the county’s Latino community. “We also know that financial security and upward mobility are essential components of a safe, secure life for everyone, immigrants included.”

The event is part of the organization’s economic mobility program, which offers support in education, entrepreneurship, and trade certifications.

The event also will include the unveiling of the final two rooftop murals in Canal Alliance’s “Threads of Unity” series at 2 p.m. The murals, created with Canal Arts, are designed to reflect the experiences and resilience of Marin’s Latino community.

The marketplace will take place at Canal Alliance headquarters and runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at 711 Grand Ave. in San Rafael.

More information can be found on the Canal Alliance website.

Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.