When Lori Schiersmann and Roxy Hurtubise heard there was a new opportunity to produce a Christmas market at the Florence Filberg Centre, they wasted no time.
“We received word that the Charles Dickens Craft Faire [producer] was retiring, and I called the Filberg before I even finished reading the email,” said Schiersmann.
They received notice of the Charles Dickens Craft Faire (CDCF) termination by that show’s producer. Schiersmann and Hurtubise were both long-time vendors at the Charles Dickens Craft Faire - Schiersmann with her hand-design glassware gifts (tincupart.com), and Hurtubise with her “wearable photography” (she puts her own photography on apparel - VanIsleGoddess.Com). As registered vendors, they were on the CDCF mail-out list. Schiersmann said they knew they had to act quickly once word got out.
“I’ve always had [producing a show] on my bucket list, and when I called in I beat three other people by an hour and a half,” she said. “So people know that craft fairs are a good thing to do.”
“It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, and when the opportunity presented itself, we were all over it,” added Hurtubise. “We’ve called it Christmas Tradition, because we wanted to keep that tradition of the show alive.”
While this is the pair’s first crack at managing a show, both ladies have a lot of experience as vendors.
“I’ve been going to five or six shows a year for the past 18 years, so I have a good idea of what we want,” said Schiersmann.
The Christmas Traditions Market will take place Nov. 8-10, and the producers promise it will be bigger and better than anything local Christmas shoppers have ever seen before.
Both levels of the Florence Filberg Centre will be fully decorated, and there will be a new “foodie” section.
The vast majority of the 77 vendors will also be new, as Schiersmann and Hurtubise did not have access to the vender list from the CDCF.
“I would say there are about 15 returning vendors.” said Hurtubise.
“[We used] word of mouth, Facebook, other event co-ordinators sent out the information… and we were pretty ull almost immediately. We just hit the pavement running and everything just came together,” said Schiersmann.
The types of booths wwre closely monitored as well, to ensure the widest variety of goods as possible.
“We are not overloading with jewelry, or soaps, or apparel,” said Schiersmann. “So many of the shows you got oare jsut soap and jelwelry, soap and jewelry. We wanted to ake sure there was more than just that. Total variety.”
“Our tag line is ‘A gift shop for everyone,’ ” added Hurtubise. We have a really good mix of new people, old people.. it’s like nothing that anybody has ever seen.”
Admission to the show is $4, with $1 from each ticket going to charity.
The show runs Friday from 3-8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Sunday from 10 to 4.”
The list of vendors can be seen at christmastraditions.ca