Meet the Makers: The Black-Owned Businesses Powering the Roots & Rivers Marketplace

Official Roots & Rivers Festival banner featuring a Black performer, the festival date, event hours, and Oyster Factory Park location.

Every great marketplace begins with people: the makers who turn ideas into books, flavors, products, and experiences that bring neighbors together. At Roots & Rivers, we believe these entrepreneurs deserve more than a moment in the spotlight. They deserve a vibrant platform where their work can be discovered, supported, and carried forward into the future.

Welcome to the first article in our Meet the Makers series. In this opening spotlight, we are introducing two confirmed Black-owned businesses joining us at the Roots & Rivers Festival marketplace: DT Books, a children’s book author and publisher creating diverse stories, and G’Ma on Ice, a family-friendly dessert vendor serving colorful shaved ice and snowballs.

Join us on Saturday, September 12, 2026, from 2–8 PM at Oyster Factory Park, Bluffton, South Carolina, for a day that is not just an event, but a meaningful investment in creativity, culture, and community connection.

A Marketplace Rooted in Culture and Community

The Roots & Rivers marketplace is designed to make shopping local feel personal, joyful, and purposeful. Guests can browse the work of Black entrepreneurs, meet the people behind the businesses, ask questions, and discover products that reflect the imagination and heritage of the Lowcountry.

This is not just a collection of booths, but a Black-owned business marketplace built around visibility and shared success. Every purchase creates a direct connection between a customer and a small business owner. Every conversation can open the door to a new relationship, a future order, a referral, or a child discovering an idea that stays with them.

The marketplace will be part of a larger Bluffton community festival experience featuring live Motown, R&B, and Blues music, local food, a craft beer garden, and a Kids Zone. With six hours of entertainment and activities, families and friends can take their time exploring, listening, tasting, and celebrating together.

Meet DT Books: Stories That Help Every Child Belong

For children, a book can be a mirror, a window, and a doorway. It can help them recognize themselves, understand someone else’s experience, and imagine a world where every person belongs. That is the heart of DT Books, the children’s publishing venture created by author Danielle Tennison.

At the Roots & Rivers Kids Zone, DT Books will share stories centered on kindness, acceptance, inclusion, and the unique abilities found in every child. The books featured in the vendor spotlight include titles such as Shea Makes a New Friend and Shea’s Appointment at the Shriners Children’s Hospital. Together, these stories invite young readers to see difference as something to respect and celebrate.

DT Books promotional graphic featuring children’s author Danielle Tennison, inclusive children’s stories, and the September 12, 2026 festival information.

Meeting an author in person can make reading feel immediate and exciting. Children can connect a real community member with the stories she creates, while parents and caregivers can explore books that support conversations about friendship, empathy, accessibility, and belonging.

DT Books is not just selling children’s books, but helping families build a more inclusive imagination. When we place diverse stories in children’s hands, we help shape a future in which every child sees their life, ability, family, and potential represented with care.

Meet G’Ma on Ice: A Sweet Tradition for the Kids Zone

Few things capture the feeling of a family festival like a cold, colorful treat on a warm afternoon. G’Ma on Ice will bring that feeling to Roots & Rivers with a shaved ice and snowball menu made for joyful discovery.

Families can look forward to a wide selection of refreshing flavors, from fruit-inspired favorites to creative combinations. The bright colors and playful choices make G’Ma on Ice a natural stop in the Kids Zone, whether children are cooling down after an activity or parents are treating the family to something special.

G’Ma on Ice promotional graphic showing the dessert truck, shaved ice flavors, Kids Zone placement, and festival details.

But G’Ma on Ice represents more than a sweet treat. The business also reflects how food entrepreneurship can create family memories, support youth, and strengthen local relationships. When we purchase from a Black-owned dessert vendor, we are supporting the work, preparation, equipment, creativity, and determination that make a small business possible.

At Roots & Rivers, we want children to experience entrepreneurship as something they can see, taste, and understand. G’Ma on Ice helps make that lesson delicious.

Why Supporting Black-Owned Businesses in the Lowcountry Matters

The Lowcountry is rich with cultural heritage, creativity, and entrepreneurial energy. For generations, Black families and community leaders have helped shape the region’s foodways, music, storytelling, artistry, and civic life. Supporting Black-owned businesses today honors that history while helping ensure that local creators have room to grow tomorrow.

Intentional spending matters because small businesses often rely on community relationships to build momentum. A customer who discovers a children’s book at the festival may purchase another book later, recommend it to a teacher, or return for a new release. A family who enjoys a snowball from G’Ma on Ice may become a repeat customer, share the business with friends, or invite the vendor to a future celebration.

These individual choices add up. They help keep economic activity closer to home and give entrepreneurs opportunities to build lasting customer networks. They also show young people that Black-owned businesses are a visible and essential part of the Lowcountry’s present and future.

Supporting local is not just about finding something unique, but about helping create a stronger, more equitable community economy. When we shop with purpose, we contribute to a shared legacy of resilience and possibility.

Shop, Listen, Taste, and Connect at Oyster Factory Park

The marketplace experience is designed to fit naturally into the rhythm of the festival. You might begin in the Kids Zone with a visit to DT Books, stop by G’Ma on Ice for a refreshing snowball, and then make your way toward the music as live performances fill Oyster Factory Park.

The open-air setting encourages guests to move comfortably between shopping, entertainment, and family activities. Our step-free festival environment is designed to welcome elders, caregivers, children, and guests with mobility needs. Everyone should be able to participate in the celebration and experience the marketplace with ease.

A local Black artisan speaks with festival attendees at a vendor table in the Roots & Rivers marketplace.

Come ready to browse, but also come ready to talk. Ask makers about their inspiration. Encourage your children to choose a story. Try a flavor you have never had before. These simple moments transform a marketplace from a retail space into a place of connection.

You can learn more about the festival experience through our Roots & Rivers Festival marketplace guide and explore more family-focused details in our guide to family-friendly fun in Bluffton.

Plan Your September 12 Festival Visit

Roots & Rivers Festival takes place on Saturday, September 12, 2026, from 2–8 PM at Oyster Factory Park, Bluffton, South Carolina. Tickets are:

• $15 for General Admission

• $50 for group packs

• Kids 12 and under are free with a paid adult

Get your tickets here, and visit the Facebook Event page to share the plans with family and friends.

If you are bringing children, make time for the Kids Zone and the confirmed DT Books and G’Ma on Ice spotlights. If you are coming with friends, a group pack makes it easier to gather your people around music, food, shopping, and shared memories.

A festival attendee relaxes in an outdoor seating area near vendor tents at Oyster Factory Park.

Partially supported by Town of Bluffton Accommodations Tax Funds.

The Makers Are Building What Comes Next

Our history gives Roots & Rivers its foundation, but our makers help define where we go next. DT Books is helping children see themselves and one another with greater compassion. G’Ma on Ice is creating joyful family moments while demonstrating the energy of local food entrepreneurship. Together, they represent the creativity and care that make this marketplace meaningful.

This series will continue introducing the people behind the businesses powering Roots & Rivers. For now, we invite you to mark September 12, 2026 on your calendar and join us at Oyster Factory Park.

Come for the music. Stay for the stories, flavors, and conversations. Shop with intention, celebrate Black-owned businesses, and help us build a future where Lowcountry entrepreneurs are not just included in the community( they are recognized as essential to its growth.)