photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

People walk through the Ascher Family Plaza on Friday, March 27, 2026, on the University of Kansas campus.

Next Friday on the University of Kansas campus, you might see what looks like a mini craft market near the bronze Jayhawk statues outside the Kansas Union.

It’s called Jayhawk Fridays, and it’s a new way for small businesses to connect with students on campus. Program director Mikayla Leader with KU Memorial Unions said it will normally happen on the first Friday of each month, and if you’re a vendor of arts and crafts, baked goods or other handmade items, you can apply for a spot now.

Leader said the idea for a market on campus isn’t new; Jayhawk Fridays is just a different way to do it.

The union actually has had an annual craft market for three years now, called Sip & Shop, that draws more than 50 vendors each year. This year’s was on Feb. 22. But Sip & Shop has always been on a weekend, when not as many students are at the union, and Leader said Jayhawk Fridays was intended to reach more students, more often.

“We thought, why don’t we bring that kind of idea to campus when students are here, Monday through Friday, on weekdays?” Leader said. “So that’s how Jayhawk Fridays kind of came about.”

photo by: Contributed/KU Memorial Unions

Shoppers look over the merchandise at the Kansas Union’s most recent Sip & Shop market.

Leader said the union staff also drew inspiration from similar programs at other universities, such as the University of North Texas, Texas State University and Florida State University. Some union staff members went to North Texas to see how its program worked while developing the Jayhawk Fridays concept, she said.

“It’s a different event that we’ve seen at a few different institutions,” Leader said.

Jayhawk Fridays have been scheduled through October, and unlike Sip & Shop, they will be open-air markets. They will be on the Ascher Family Plaza, the area just south of the union with the Jayhawk statues around it.

They’ll also be smaller than Sip & Shop, because the plaza can’t accommodate that many vendors. Leader hopes to have 10 to 20 businesses at each Jayhawk Fridays market.

It’s $75 for a business to reserve a 6-by-4-foot space, and $100 to reserve a 12-by-4-foot space. The union provides the tables and chairs.

The union staff has been trying to actively recruit certain types of businesses, Leader said. She’s interested in having more vendors you might see at a farmers market in addition to the arts and crafts vendors that have been at Sip & Shop. (While certain types of food products can’t be sold, the market does allow many shelf-stable items, such as baked goods, jams and jellies, salsas and other processed foods, provided they meet certain food safety requirements.)

Sip & Shop has featured craft vendors with embroidered and crocheted goods, ceramics, jewelry, skin care products, nail art and many other handcrafted items. “We have some, I would say, kind of unique ones,” Leader said, such as a woodworking business that sells cutting boards.

The goods are all reasonably priced things that students can afford, said student intern Ava Sefcik, who helps organize the markets.

“The most expensive products (at Sip & Shop) might have been like a piece of clothing, which would have been like $35,” Sefcik said. “I don’t think it was anything extravagant for college students.”

Some of the businesses aren’t just selling to students; they’re run by students, too. At this year’s Sip & Shop, Leader said eight student-run businesses participated. You get a discount on registering for that event if you’re a student at a K-12 school or university, but students will pay the same rate as any other vendors for a booth in Jayhawk Fridays.

Because the location is near the KU Natural History Museum and the Spencer Museum of Art, Leader said the union is collaborating with those museums as they plan their summer activities.

“They also program over the summer a lot to get some K-12 students involved with their spaces, so (we’re) working with them to see what we can help each other out on,” she said.

She also wants to work with local nonprofits to give them a presence at the market, and she ultimately wants it to be seen as something for the whole Lawrence community, not just KU.

“We are hoping to get students and Lawrence community members involved,” Leader said.

The first Jayhawk Fridays market is next Friday, April 3, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and vendors can apply and find more information about how to participate at union.ku.edu/JayhawkFridays. Here’s a list of the other dates for this year:

• May 1

• June 5

• July 10

• Aug. 7

• Sept. 4

• Oct. 2

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

A couple of tables are set up on the Ascher Family Plaza on Friday, March 27, 2026, on the University of Kansas campus.