Starting this quarter, a group of UW business students in a two-quarter entrepreneurship course was asked to create its own company. What resulted was Urban Concepts, which saw its concepts become reality at its “Underground Market” this past Saturday.

The market, located on the corner of Northeast 50th Street and 17th Avenue Northeast, ran all day and featured local student-made clothing, accessories and art for sale. Even the musicians and food vendors were from the area.

UW senior and Urban Concepts Vice President of Marketing Janelle Keller said she and her classmates came up with the idea with the hope of creating a marketplace for students and young business owners to sell their locally-made goods.

“We wanted to help out young entrepreneurs,” Keller said. “A lot of them don’t have the time or money to sell to a large group otherwise, so we wanted to bring the group to them.”

At noon, free sandwiches were provided, and they disappeared almost instantly. Live entertainment went on all day while people perused the booths.

An energetic performance from Dyno Jamz, a local hip-hop jazz fusion group and winner of the Battle of the Bands at the HUB Crawl last Friday, drew a big — and loud — crowd.

Other performances on the schedule were slam poetry and Suicide Notes, a hip-hop rap duo with a slight country feel. At the end of the event, raffle winners were announced.

The market also showcased other groups in the entrepreneurship class.

Swagger Live Entertainment, a business idea created by students in the same class, had a booth at the market selling tickets for Seattle Show Stoppers, a dance competition taking place Feb. 20 in Kane Hall.

Tomson Mukai, co-founder of Swagger Live, said the love for hip-hop music and entertainment gave his group inspiration for its business concept.

“We wanted to provide a venue for people, a community to outlet their creativity for performing arts,” Mukai said.

Another vendor, Krochet Kids International, sold knit beanies. The nonprofit was started by UW alumnus Kohl Crecelius and a group of his friends, and created sustainable economic development programs by training a group of 10 women in Uganda to crochet beanies for sale. During the summer of 2007, Crecelius and his friends packed two bags of yarn and traveled to Northern Uganda, and Krochet Kids was born.

“We saw crocheting as a way we can teach a skill we love and train people with it,” Crecelius said. “It’s an expression of our heart to reach out in love and help people somehow.”

Other vendors included Julia Bruk Photography, People’s Republic of Clothing and Wisdom Designs jewelry.

“This was a really good starting-off point,” Keller said. “We’re seeing how it goes, and if it’s something we want to keep doing in the future.”

In case you missed it, the next Underground Market is set for March 7.

Reach reporter Carolyn Yuen at arts@dailyuw.com.