The Story of How Bazar. A Space for Everyone. We met Laila Fakhoury in the middle of a busy downtown market. The event, a partnership between the City of Gainesville and How Bazar, was created to bring life to the streets during the quiet winter months. As we talked, she moved between directing vendors and showing exactly how she builds community in real-time. Laila’s vision is deeply shaped by her Palestinian heritage, where she learned early that “community is everything and all we have.” Her work is rooted in recreating that feeling—a space where people don’t just gather, but truly belong. Coming from such a collective culture, she admits the more individualistic pace of American life once felt disheartening. But in Gainesville, she found something different: people quietly searching for the same sense of belonging, [...]