On Saturday we started out at the Riverside Secondary School fair, and then hit the The Happening Arts & Crafts Show (Thomas Haney Secondary School). Sunday we headed out to Abbotsford and swung by the Second Annual West Coast Christmas Show (for the free samples of course ;) ) and then we went to the Abbotsford Arts Council's Christmas Craft Fair. Lets see if I can give you a brief synopsis of each.
Riverside Secondary School
This fair was kinda hard to find because I approached it using mapquest directions which apparently didn't follow the beaten path and weren't market by any kind of signs advertising the event. The event itself was inside the highschool and was split between the two gyms. One gym had the crafts in it while the other seemed to be more of a consession area. Although the parking lot seemed to be full, there wasn't a huge amount of traffic inside. We were there at about 1:00 pm and the weather was horrible, there was good attendance but it wasn't spectacular. There were a couple of unique vebdors worth mentioning though -- unfortunatley neither of threm have websites yet so I hope they e-mail me as they said they would so I can put their contact details up here.
The first unique vendor that was there was a lady who calls her business "T-Cup". She has taken a teacup and attached it to its matching saucer. She has then attached this to a copper stake/pipe which can then be put in your garden or planter for the birds to enjoy. They are meant to have the cup part filled up with water and the saucer with bird seed. She had one stuck in a large planter of pansies and it was really whimsical!
I look forward to seeing her at future events where I might be able to snap a pic to show you just how cute they are.
The next vendor captivated my son's interest. John Cloutier (mailto:j.cloutier81@gmail.com) makes little mosters out of Sculpy. Each one comes with an adoption certificate and a brief introduction including a name, likes and dislikes and future aspirations. The animal and the certificate are packaged in a cute little carry box that has cotton balls in it to ensure the new adoptee a comfortable transition to its new home. Below is a picture of "Oly" which my son adopted. John has more pictures of his work in his Picasa Album. Worth checking out -- they are really cute!
I was also amused to chat with a vendor who was completly sold out of his cat scratch posts. He was sitting at his table with one post left that had a sold sign on it. He was amazed that he had sold all 20 of the posts he had brought. He said he has had some sucess on Craigslist but didn't expect this kind of sucess! He is retired and makes these as a hobby -- who knew they would be so popular?
The Happening Arts & Crafts Show (Thomas Haney Secondary School)
This was one of the best craft shows I have been to this year. It was really well advertised and signs were clear and indicated the way clearly. I initially thought that the show consisted only of the vendors under the rotunda but was pleasantly suprised when I saw signs leading into another and bigger room. The fair had a great atmosphere and was really busy.
I particularily liked the work of Marcel and Wendy Merks -- Driftwood Bay . They have some really cute birdhouses made out of driftwood and clay. I lifted an image from their website so you can see what I mean:
I was really impressed with a couple of the vendors and wished that I had left myself more time as we arrived only 45 minutes before they were closing. ( I took some pics of the fair -- you'll notice that some of the vendors have already closed for the night as it was after 4 when I snapped the pics)
I'll end this post here and continue with the Abbotsford shows in the next post . . . .
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