Craft fairs provide 'pick-me-up' for some P.E.I. vendors
Christmas craft season is back on P.E.I., and the experience itself is just as gratifying as making a sale for some vendors.
Hundreds of people came out to the craft fair at Three Oaks High School in Summerside, the first time it's been held since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sandy Champion said she expects to make enough money selling crafts to do all of her own Christmas shopping.
She thinks of her late father, who encouraged her to explore her artistic side, every time she sells one of her painted light bulbs.
"My dad taught me to knit when I was 13 and I have just progressed to do so many things since then," she said. "He would be so proud of me if he was still here."
She began painting the light bulbs when she realized she was throwing so many out, and thought there must be a better use for them.
"A lot of people like the idea they are recycled," she said.
Joy Gallant can't bear to throw anything out, either. She sells all kinds of crafts, including rugs from material her mother-in-law gave her before she died.
"I had bags and bags of cut wool and I didn't have the heart to say no," she said.
Hunter River also held a Christmas craft fair Saturday.
Krissy Vardon, owner of Little Bit of Everything Crafts, said she had a brain aneurysm about six years ago and finds making crafts "kind of like a pick-me-up."
"Getting to see everybody's faces especially after being inside so long with COVID, it makes all the difference."
The vendors say they are doing what they can to keep prices low, even though rising inflation has made the crafts more expensive to make.
"I tend to do it for the joy of making it, giving somebody something to remember … and do it at a price where I'm not there to take everything out of their pocket," Vardon said.
The 35th annual Three Oaks Christmas Craft Fair continues Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is also a craft fair in Victoria on Sunday.
The Bluefield High School Christmas craft fair will be held Nov. 18-19. The Colonel Gray craft fair in Charlottetown is scheduled for Nov. 25-26.
