{"id":40217,"date":"2017-11-12T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2017-11-12T15:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=40217"},"modified":"2021-02-07T19:02:02","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T02:02:02","slug":"the-appeal-of-hand-made-things-strong-at-chestermere-christmas-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2017\/11\/12\/the-appeal-of-hand-made-things-strong-at-chestermere-christmas-market\/","title":{"rendered":"The appeal of hand-made things strong at Chestermere Christmas Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

N<\/span>ov. four, marked the day of the 24th<\/span>\u00a0Annual Chestermere Christmas Market<\/a>, where vendors of all trades gathered to sell their home-made goods, hand-made crafts and treasures.<\/p>\n

R<\/span>unning since 1993 and taken over by Crazy4Crafts in 2010, the event has welcomed jacks-of-all-trades, bringing in spectacular and unique products where each vendor has an interesting tale.<\/p>\n

Admission was free with a donation to the food bank, and visitors could enter for door prizes to have their names\u00a0drawn for Crazybucks, and tickets could be used as cash for purchase within the market.<\/p>\n

With so much going on within the craft fair, visitors can always find something to catch their eye.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never know what\u2019s going to come to the market,\u201d said Melanie Todd, a regular visitor to the craft sale.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach year you can always count on seeing a new face and checking out what unique quality they\u2019re going to bring to the Christmas market.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is an event where artisans, entrepreneurs and craftspeople can show off their skills and handiwork, proving a network for both visitors and vendors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe market is a great way to connect, meet and talk with people and get the brand out there,\u201d said Caroline Lem, pastry chef and owner of Lemonberry, an organic bakery.<\/p>\n

Christy Kovacs, an artist and entrepreneur of Rock Paper Brushes, is a vendor at the Christmas market for the second time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarkets are a great place to expand your creative mind and social circle,\u201d said Kovacs. \u201cIt\u2019s busy and friendly and everyone\u2019s kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kovacs also offers other services like paint classes and parties for children.<\/p>\n

She says without the network of craft markets, she never would\u2019ve gotten her business started.<\/p>\n

Not only does the craft market have young entrepreneurs working solo to get their brand out, there are families who have started businesses together.<\/p>\n

Married couple Amy and Justin Desjardins have combined their businesses, Wild Rose Crafts and Prohibition Style.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the Wild Rose Crafts. I sell bath and body products. My husband, Justin, is Prohibition Style. He sells men\u2019s grooming products,\u201d said Amy Desjardins.<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether we\u2019re a union and a collaboration of two separate businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

For other families, markets carry on traditions such as woodcarving through generations.<\/p>\n

The Wooden Touch is a father-son business run by Al Kirwan and his son, Dennis.<\/p>\n

They carefully hand carve beautiful wooden toys, clocks, picture frames and other unique objects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been woodcarving since I was a little thing and I started carving toys 20 years ago when my first grandchild was born,\u201d said Al Kirwan.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive years later, we started using a non-toxic water-based finish so all kids could play with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most rewarding thing the Kirwans find about selling their creations is when a child enjoys an old-fashioned wooden toy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t see a lot of folks appreciating carved wood objects, but at the market, everyone shows they love the work of hand-made things,\u201d said Dennis Kirwan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been at these Christmas markets all over Calgary for 10 years and most, if not all, vendors make everything by hand. It\u2019s truly admirable.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
The Wooden Touch<\/strong> specializes in making wooden toys for children, using a non-toxic water-based finish to make it safe for all to play with.
(Photo by May Nguyen\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Christmas Craft Market is an annual event in the community of Chestermere. Now in its 24th year running, the craft sale welcomes old and new vendors, each bringing in a unique quality to the community. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":403,"featured_media":40461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S4 Chestermere Christmas Market ","footnotes":""},"categories":[926],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-image","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-christmas-lifestyle","8":"post_format-post-format-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/403"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40217"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40944,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40217\/revisions\/40944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}