Donald
Teuma-Castelletti
OTTER LAKE Nov. 4, 2017
The Otter Lake Recreation Association Hall was lined with crafty merchants on Saturday, as the annual Christmas Craft and Vendor Show took place.
Organized by Crystal Dubeau, consumers had the chance to get a jump start on their holiday shopping with local offerings ranging from hand-decorated signs to essential oils and knitted winterwear and custom embroidered items.
“It’s the first stop for Christmas shopping in the Pontiac,” said Dubeau. “It’s always the first Saturday in November.”
Featuring 28 vendors, the market was made up of mostly local offerings, including many repeat vendors. This list included Dubeau’s eight-year-old daughter, Erica Lance, offering many custom magnets, Christmas bows and other cute goods.
Still trying to figure out what was popular, last year Lance had sold handmade jewellery, which has been featured at the family’s café, Rumours, ever since. This year, upon learning how to operate some of the machines at the family’s printshop, she expanded her wares to the Christmas decorations.
“She’s getting pretty good with using the machine,” said Dubeau of her daughter. “So, I’m anxious to see how she gets along with other things in the shop.”
Lance, on the other hand, had a simple enough reason for getting to work in the shop and setting up shop at the hall.
“I get to spend time with my mom,” she said, shyly from behind her table of goods.
A few new vendors also brought their wares to the show, including Angie Zacharias as she made her craft show debut. Showcasing just a sampling of what she’s done already, Zacharias had her hand painted signs for sale.
“I’ve always done them for myself at home, but I had too much,” she said.
At Dubeau’s invitation, and with a little encouragement from her daughter, Zacharias decided it was time to start selling her backlog under her new title of Scrap Wood Junkies.
“I’ve always loved crafts, and when I went on maternity leave three years ago, I had some time on my hands,” admitted Zacharias.
When a friend got her into reusing wood and painting on home-inspired phrases, her handiwork took off. She plans to feature her work throughout the season in a variety of upcoming events and was proud to share there was a lot of interest from customers throughout the morning.
