Small businesses will get an opportunity to host pop-up shops during the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on Saturday and Sunday.

Cadillac Square in downtown Detroit will be transformed into what is called the Small Business Straightaway, and it will feature 30 companies that represent all of the seven city council districts.

Attendees can access the area that is north of the track for free, and that includes the pop-up businesses. The businesses will be selling products from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. It will not be operating Friday.

Raeshawn Bumphers is the founder of Pink Poodle Dress Lounge, which is located at 14405 E. Jefferson Ave. in Detroit. The storefront — which started online in 2017 and opened its brick-and-mortar location in 2018 — sells wedding gowns for the bride, along with dresses for the mother of the bride, bridesmaids and flower girls. And next door, there is a space for people to shop for special occasion dresses, such as prom or cocktail.

The store will be at booth 23 during the Grand Prix pop-up shop, where Bumphers expects to sell bridal gowns, sundresses and accessories. The sundresses are expected to cost customers between $30 to $70.

“They'll be able to wrap these dresses up and put them in their bags or their purse, and still enjoy the Grand Prix,” said Bumphers, who also is CEO and Detroit bridal stylist at the store.

Preparing for the pop-up takes a team of people from both her store and the Grand Prix. Products that she plans to bring to the pop-up currently fill her office. Bumphers will have to bring them to the booth that will be set up at 6 a.m. on Saturday, do a take-down at 6 p.m. Saturday, and then do it all over again Sunday.

She says it will be worth it.

“This is going to mean a lot personally for me and for business,” Bumphers said. “On the business front, I’m all about branding. I started Pink Poodle Dress Lounge with branding. And you never know, we may be able to sell a wedding gown there. I’ve done it before at a pop-up shop. The focus isn't to sell wedding gowns there. It’s basically branding and letting people know who we are. And we’re right here in the city of Detroit.”

And José Rivera, owner and CEO of Detroit Forever 313, is set to release three designs of clothing that represent the Grand Prix. The clothing will feature a race car driver — which resembles his brand’s signature of using an astronaut — along with a racetrack and a race car.

“I just wanted to give a different unique style,” Rivera said. “I consider myself more of a surrealism artist.”

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The business opened in 2017, and it sells T-shirts, hoodies, shorts, joggers, leggings, hats and biker shorts. It has a storefront at 7421 Michigan Ave., in southwest Detroit, and its cut-and-sew manufacturer is located in Pakistan.

By being at the Grand Prix, he is hoping to reach more clients and more demographics.

“I think that a lot of my customers are based on people that I know or people that are in my age group or maybe my son's age group,” Rivera said.

Letty Azar, vice president of community and government affairs at Penske, said one of the motivations to bring the race to downtown was the access to small businesses. Azar said there are 280 businesses within a 15-minute walking distance to the race.

“These were things that we heard loud and clear that the community really wanted to see in this reinvented event, and, quite frankly, it's the right thing to do,” Azar said. “Small businesses were a big driver in our return back downtown, and that means small business citywide, not just downtown.”

This small business pop-up is part of the Grand Prix’s Community Partnership program, which aims to support small business empowerment, youth enrichment, sustainability, arts, culture and entrepreneurship in Detroit, a news release said. Businesses were selected to join the straightaway through a system that gave priority points to brick-and-mortar stores, minority-owned, veteran-owned and female-owned businesses, along with one point if entrepreneurs have a sustainability focus, motorsport-themed business or if the business works with disadvantaged communities.

Almost 80% of the straightaway businesses are female-owned and 90% of the businesses are Black-owned.

There were 80 businesses that applied to the straightaway program.

Here is a list of some of the businesses that will be present at the Small Business Straightaway:

• 75 South BBQ

• ArtLoft Midtown

• ChelleDiorStyles

• Corktown Business Association

• Detroit Forever 313

• Detroit Hives

• E. Warren Development Corp.

• Folk

• Konnected Fitness

• Lorraine’s Premium BBQ Sauce

• Love Travels. Imports.

• Motor City Popcorn

• Ocean Ridge Developments

• Our Hour-Mobile Paint Party

• Pawstries

• Pink Poodle Dress Lounge

• Ponyride

• Sno Biz Detroit

• Skin Bar VII

• Soapstone Soaps

• Southwest Detroit Business Association

• Support Impact Give Hope

• Tacobachis

• TbakesTreats

• Threads & Legs

• Unique Monique Scented Candles

• VMX International

• Voluptuous Bien’Aime Boutique

• ZAB Cultural Collective

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Grand Prix hosting business pop-up at Cadillac Square this weekend