Rising Stars: Meet Meghan Mckenna of Downtown West Palm Beach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Meghan Mckenna

Originally published at VoyageMIA.com

Today we’d like to introduce you to Meghan Mckenna

Hi Meghan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’ve lived and worked in West Palm Beach since 2003. After spending a handful of years working for what used to be called Clear Channel Radio, I became an entrepreneur, venturing out on my own. Eventually, I settled into working in a space that bridges the gap between the creative and technical – technical search engine optimization and website design. Working for myself, I wanted to find connection. I helped found CreativeMornings Palm Beach, and joined 1909, and First Female. Growing connected to the vibrant creative community led me to creating engaging activated experiences of my own, and inviting others to participate. I even experimented with a beer-bike ride called Pedal for Beer in 2019, which took 100 people on an 8.8 mile bike ride around West Palm Beach, to visit 4 breweries.

I had been dreaming about an art vending machine for some time – how cool would that be, to have a vending machine that sells tiny art! My dreams became tangible when I began planning where each piece of art would live in my hypothetical vending machine and which artists would I beg to be a part of my idea. I just needed to figure out how to fund the idea.

In October of 2023 an opportunity arose from the West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority, they were awarding grants each under the Mini Placemaking Grant Program of 2024. The goal of the grant was to activate public spaces and engage the people through community-led projects, which allowed me to make the initial vending machine purchase, and create a partnership with support from the DDA. Twenty-nine applicants were reduced to four finalists, and Flamango Vending was born.

Flamango Vending is an affordable art vending machine featuring local artists. All the pieces in the machine are from local Palm Beach County creative talent and are $50 and under. We feature original canvases in varying sizes 5”x7”, 4”x6”, 2” squares, and even 4” rounds. You can vend fabric collages of south Florida landmarks, crochet peep-chains, watercolor kits, Mystic Magnets, postcards and more from local illustrators, stickers, enamel pins, art lighters, and much more. The 32 selections of art and artists are always changing and rotating.

We had a successful soft-launch, providing a great proof of concept where we engaged the community, sold art, and activated a WPB space at Clematis by Night on Leap Day 2024. The machine moved to Garden District Taproom for the month of April, then spent a quick weekend at SunFest in the ArtsVillage. The affordable art vending machine is currently located on the ground floor of CityPlace in downtown West Palm Beach.

I hope to continue to grow Flamango Vending. I have a goal of 6 additional affordable art vending machines around Palm Beach County by next summer.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There are a few challenges that I’ve had to deal with along the way. The credit card processors on vending machines operate on a cell signal. On opening night, cell networks went down, which meant we could not vend via cards. Luckily I had a quick thinking colleague (and friend) step up and take over with Venmo and a smile. It all worked out, and the vending machine was fine.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I seek community, connection, and positive feelings through my creative experiential work. I want others to feel a sense of joy, discovery, nostalgia, and happiness through Flamango Vending. I am driven by the joy of a participatory experience that evokes a feeling strong enough to establish a lasting memory. Creating memories connect us and ground us, which provide context to where we are now in our lives.

I want to spark the joy of discovery while on the hunt for the machine, the feeling of nostalgia from the vending experience, and a feeling of pride knowing we’re directly supporting local arts.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
My ability to act, to figure things out on the fly and make them happen, is one of the biggest advantages I have. I’m not afraid to have a bad idea, to try something, assess, realize it maybe didn’t work as well as I thought, adjust and continue pushing forward. Lastly, I think it’s critical to surround yourself with folks that can be mutually supportive. I ‘found my people’ in groups like CreativeMornings Palm Beach, First Female, and of course 1909.

Contact Info:

Website: https://FlamangoVending.com
Instagram: https://linktr.ee/FlamangoVending
Facebook: https://facebook.com/flamangovending
Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanlmckenna/