2025 Holiday Market Maker Portal
Scroll to review the contents of the portal or use the buttons below for quickly reference specific information.
Load-In Instructions & Booth Maps
Load-In & Load-Out Instructions (Makers & Sponsors)
Load-In & Load-Out Instructions (Hands-On Handmade Arcade)
Maker FAQs
Load-In Questions
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No. This load-in time is for everyone, even if you want to unload by parking and transporting your items through the main Convention Center entrance. While you may be able to arrive a little after 2 PM for load-in and still have time for set-up, we recommend being on-site by 2 PM at the latest. You will still be assigned a load-in time between 10 AM and 2 PM regardless of if you plan to load-in via the loading dock.
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You are more than welcome to park and use your own cart to load in from the front doors of the Convention Center. Elevators are available for use.
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Almost everyone will be able to drive in, so this isn’t something you should worry too much about. The only reason why you wouldn’t be able to drive in is if traffic on the floor gets too backed up. If that is the case, the Convention Center teamsters will help you unload and take things to your booth, and they move FAST.
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No. Please contact us ASAP at makers@handmadearcade.org so we can help you with this. Sometime in late October/early November, all makers will receive a list to approve that we have the correct tables, chairs, and electricity needs reflected to send to the Convention Center. After that list is circulated and confirmed, you might be able to add things the day of load-in, but we can’t make any guarantees at that time as it depends on what the Convention Center team has available.
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Yes, every booth has the ability to have electricity.
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The Convention Center is a green building that uses a lot of natural lighting. Unfortunately, this means that some parts of the hall will be darker than others, and the lighting is out of our control as organizers. We recommend bringing your own lighting for your booth in case you’re in a darker area of the hall.
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No, pipe-and-drape is not provided. Most makers bring their own backdrops, pipe-and-drape, shelving, etc. to separate their booths from their neighbor’s booth. Click here to see examples of past maker booths & displays.
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Yes. As long as it fits in your booth space, tents and canopies are welcome.
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No. As long as your signage fits in your space, there are no height restrictions. Height is great for attracting attention from shoppers.
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Yes, unless you’re in an Expanded Booth, your booth will be back-to-back with other makers. We will work with the Convention Center team to try to leave a small bit of space between the back of each row for more ease of movement, but it depends on what is possible within the space, fire codes, etc. as we work with the Convention Center on the final layout.
2025 Full Event Schedule
Friday, December 5
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Makers will be assigned a 30-minute arrival window between 10 AM - 2 PM for load-in arrival. Assigned load-in times will be provided in November.
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This will be a more quiet shopping session with no music playing. It will include the following shoppers:
Sensory-Friendly Shoppers
Retail Partners
This shopping time will be for pay-what-you-can ticketing with limited attendees to allow for a more quiet shopping experience.
Retail Partners will be indicated by a button provided by Handmade Arcade. These partners will receive a special map of the Holiday Market indicating which makers are open to wholesale opportunities.
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This will be an upbeat shopping session that serves as a fundraising opportunity for Handmade Arcade. There will be special food and drink options for sale as well as special entertainment.
Saturday, December 6
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Makers must return to the Convention Center by 8:30 AM at the latest.
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This will be an upbeat, fast-paced shopping session that serves as a fundraising opportunity for Handmade Arcade. It will be filled with fans of Handmade Arcade who come ready to shop quickly before the rest of the crowds come in.
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This is the window for general shopping. Tickets are pay-what-you-can, and free tickets are available for those who need them. We stagger the shopper arrival times throughout the day in an effort to spread out the crowds and reduce parking and traffic around the Convention Center.
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Makers must keep their products up at their booths until 6:00 PM. Detailed load-out instructions will be provided closer to the market. This year, we will have an extra 30 minutes for finish load-out (we know many makers have been requesting this!).
Important Links
Handmade Arcade Maker Handbook
Includes the following information:
Inventory Planning & Pricing
Booth Display Ideas
Market Tips & Tricks
List of Items to Bring (PDF Page 8)
Event Accessibility Information
Includes information about accessibility at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A communication hub to communicate with fellow makers and Handmade Arcade leading up to - and during! - the Holiday Market
Convention Center WIFI
There is no free internet at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
You can sign up for WIFI once you are in the DLCC halls by opening your web browser.
There will be daily WIFI rates (likely discounted) provided by the DLCC closer to the event.
Most makers use data plans on their phones for WIFI to take credit card sales.
Makers can also borrow free WIFI hotspots from local libraries.
Hotel Accommodations & Parking
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We have secured the following discounted hotel rates for makers from Thursday, December 4 - Saturday, December 6. Review the rates below and use the booking link to get the discounted rate. Please pay close attention to the booking cut-off date to ensure you can get the discounted rates. Some nights may book quickly, so we recommend booking early.
1) Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown
Rate: $99 per night
Location: 600 Commonwealth Pl, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Distance from the Convention Center: 0.7 miles/16-minute walk (mostly flat terrain)
Booking Cut-Off Date: November 4, 2025
Rate: $189 per night
Location: 1000 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Distance from the Convention Center: 0.1 miles/5-minute walk (mostly flat)
Booking Cut-Off Date: November 14, 2025
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Parking recommendations near the David L. Lawrence Convention Center:
Grant Street Transportation Center Rates & Info (two blocks/six-minute walk)
Smithfield & Liberty Garage Rates & Info (four blocks/eight-minute walk)
Convention Center Parking Garage Rates & Info (Space is limited at this garage, so we try to reserve these spaces for attendees. Please feel free to use this garage if you have accessibility needs.)
Use the ParkPGH website or app for real-time parking availability & info.
Booth Types & Sizes
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8 ft x 8 ft
For new and emerging makers
There is a lottery for limited Craft Corridor Corner Booths
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10 ft x 10 ft
There is a lottery for limited Standard Booth Corner Booths
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20 ft x 20 ft
Available to Standard Booth makers who opt in for the Expanded Booth Lottery
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10 ft x 10 ft
Includes one table and one chair
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10 ft x 10 ft
Includes one table and one chair
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10 ft x 10 ft
Includes one table and one chair
Event Ticket Links
The best link to direct folks to is https://www.handmadearcade.org/2025-holiday-market as it has all of the event ticket links, FAQs, maker listings, Hands-On Handmade Arcade listings, and more.
Specific Event Ticketing Links:
Sensory-Friendly & Retailer Shopping Tickets (December 5 from 4-6 PM)
Friday Night Preview Party Tickets (December 5 from 6-8 PM)
Early Bird Shopping Tickets (December 6 from 9-11 AM)
General Admission Shopping Tickets (December 6 from 11 AM - 6 PM)
Maker Meeting Zoom Recordings
September 25: Accepted Maker Meeting
Click here to access the Zoom Recording (Zoom Passcode: rBbY+10?)
October 27: Preparing for Holiday Market Success (6:30 - 8:00 PM)
Click here to access the Zoom recording (Zoom Passcode: V#L*v%0O)
Raffle Donation Instructions
Our annual raffle is a huge fundraiser for our nonprofit that helps keep us staffed, keep booth fees as low as possible, and more. Our raffle baskets are filled with maker-donated goods. Thank you in advance for your help!
Raffle donations must be received by Friday, November 14
Please complete this short but very important form about your planned raffle donation. This helps us send you acknowledgement letters for your tax deductible raffle donations in early 2026
You have three options for getting your donations to Handmade Arcade:
Option 1: Mail it to Handmade Arcade’s mailing address, which is Handmade Arcade, 4885 McKnight Road, #304, Pittsburgh, PA 15237. Please note that this is NOT a physical address. We work fully remote. This is only a mailing address, so please don’t try to drop off a donation at this address.
Option 2: Drop your donation off at one of our partnering maker brick-and-mortar stores. They will have large bins to accept your donations from October 3-November 14. Partner locations include:
Alternate Histories (Greenfield)
Firecracker Fabrics (Morningside)
Otto Finn (Lawrenceville)
Option 3: Give your donation to Handmade Arcade’s new Program Operations Manager, Emmy McDonnell, at an upcoming coffee shop drop-in office hours session.
Friday, October 10 from 8 AM - 12 PM at Commonplace Coffee in the Northside
Sunday, November 9 from 12 - 3 PM at Commonplace Coffee in Rockwell Park
Social Media Toolkit
Click here to access the Maker Social Media Toolkit on Dropbox.
All files provided can be downloaded and used by makers to help promote their participation in the Holiday Market. More files will be added when tickets go on sale the week of September 29.
You can also download this Holiday Market Maker Social Media Toolkit PDF for copy suggestions, hashtags, quick links, & more.
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