Saturday was a wild day for markets and PentictonNow couldn’t say no. And in the end, we only missed one.
We started the day at the Kaleden Volunteer Fire Dept., where local firefighters flipped pancakes as a kick-off to the 2023 Kaleden Progrsessive Winter Market.
The KPWM got its start in 2020, when pandemic regulations squashed indoor markets of any kind. But the crafty folk in Kaleden figured an outdoor market where vendors displayed their wares in the great outdoors — mostly in the driveways and front yards of homes throughout the community -- couldn’t be stopped.
They were right.
Now in 2023, the market just keeps expanding. Ad this year, the firefighters joined in with an early-morning breakfast that absolutely jammed the little fire hall by 9 am.
"It's been excellent today," said fire chief Tony Medeira, watching the crowd mill about. "We've a couple hundred people already.
But the breakfast had purpose beyond a mere community gesture.
"So today we just wanted to reach out and do something for the community," said Madeira, "and we wanted to raise money and create awareness for FireSmart too.
"But it's also a recruitment drive. We really need more firefighters. As long as you live in the Kaleden district and have interest, we hope you'll come and apply."
With breakfast behind us, we wandered down the street a bit to one of the market's central hubs, the Kaleden Community Hall. We were one of the first in the door at 10 am, but within minutes there were dozens more.
There were a dozen-plus vendors inside, but we were drawn to a newbie -- Jason Yacishyn of the Pender Island-based Raven's Fir Preserved Foods.
A Pender Island vendor all the way in Kaleden? Yep, and he was busy from the get-go.
"Freeze dried foods are kind of everywhere," he explained. "Soup packages, backpacker meals, astronaut ice cream. But I do all kinds of fruit, all kinds of candy, and more. It's a texture thing, it’s a unique experience."
Yacishyn explained that he got into the preserved foods biz when the pandemic hit.
"It was the empty shelves," he said. "That’s why I got a machine that preserves food for 25 years. And I've been busy ever since."
Yacishyn found out about the market from his mom, a resident of Osoyoos and a South Okanagan market regular herself. Her businesses is known as "The Perogy Lady Plus More," and she was set up right next door.
Back in our car now, we zipped up and down a few streets and drove past a few more vendor hubs — some near the water, some up in the hills – before finally settling on Linden Gardens, where the "Valley of Friends Learning Circle" (a group of home-educated kids and their parents) had pulled in a big crowd.
"We have over 80 families in our group, all the way from Osoyoos to Summerland," said spokesperson Desiree Stiles. "We meet twice a week. We've been meeting for 16 years and incorporated for 13. Our kids are a mix of home-schoolers and home-learners."
We'd dropped by Linden Gardens last year as well and found the Valley of Friends kids quite awesome. So it was fun to be back.
"Today is our annual Christmas Craft Fair where the kids get an opportunity to sell, buy and trade with their friends," said Stiles. "Ninety percent of everything here is homemade by the children. This is our third year at the Progressive Market."
A half hour later, we found ourselves in the middle of the Cannery Trade Centre on Fairview Road in Penticton. It was the second annual Winter Crafters' Market, organized again by Black Rabbit Fabric boss Yvonne King as a way to build excitement for the cool old building and to raise money for the Salvation Army Food Bank.
This year, the two-day market would raise a whopping $3569.65 for the Food Bank and, said King, a "bin full of food." So in that way alone it was mission accomplished.
We checked out the place and hung out for a bit at pottery studio Speckled Row on the top floor and studio rental space Donut House Studios – where we found Santa – and 4th Meridian Art on the first floor.
All three were part of not only the Cannery market, but also of the Penticton Penticton & District Community Arts Council's Fall Art Walk.
At Speckled Row, we ran into one of several people we'd meet throughout the day who'd seen us earlier at other markets. Seems a lot of folks had the same idea we did.
"It's been an amazing day," said Naramata's Ulla Friis, who, with her daughter, had been marketing in Kaleden earlier in the morning. "We were supposed to be out of town this weekend but that got canceled so we got up early to hit all the different markets and support all the vendors."
Friis, an actor of some note on the international stage, said she'd left home that morning with $30 to spend at the markets. She'd now spent 29 of them.
"I got a macramé thing and I got some earrings," she laughed. "I got some decorative mushrooms, and some stocking stuffers. Now we're headed to the Penticton Arts Council event at Leir House. My daughter has some art there."
Back on the main floor, we ran into Cheryl and Jim Roepcke of Penticton board game café Meeples and Milkshakes. They had a table at the market where they sold many of today's hottest board games – and some Meeples cookies too. They seemed to be doing great business.
"We were in here last year too," said Jim Roepcke, "right in the same spot. And it's been great. I think we learned so much last year that we knew what to bring today. People are loving the games we brought.
In early December, Meeples will make cookies for Bethel Church's "Shop of Wonders" pop-up toy store for needy kids at the SS Sicamous. And they’re donating 10% of total revenue from their milkshake and bun sales through November to OSNS.
Good going, you two.
Next it was off to Penticton's newest coffee shop.
It's called One14 Coffee Co and it's in the exact same unit where for 15 years Walla Bakery produced some of the best bread and baked goods in the city.
Now it's a slick new coffee shop – with lots of baked good too -- run by Pentictonites Katie Hurley and Laura Chapman, known locally for their event rental biz Ellie Wylde Design Co.
And Saturday afternoon the place was absolutely buzzing. More on One14 Coffee Co. shortly at PentictonNow.
From the Cannery it was downtown to Aurora Matheson Fine Art Gallery on Martin Street, directly across from Slackwater Brewing. Proprietor Renee Matheson is a stalwart of the spring and all "Art Walks," and we knew her studio would be a hub .
And it was. One of the people we happily talked with was artist Ron Gladdish, a guy who tends to make use of upcycled material in much of the stuff he does.
We spotted one of his framed paintings where the painted object was in fact part of an old automobile fender. We thought it was rather excellent.
"We've talked to a lot of people here today," said Gladdish. "Lots. But the economy is not great right now. And it shows. Discretionary spending is down."
Gladdish had great words for Renee Matheson.
"This is a great gallery," he said. "And Renee is a fabulous person. She knows every artist. She knows their story."
Among the people inside the gallery were Linda Pruegger and hubby Larry of Kaleden. They, like many of us apparently, had started their day in Kaleden and then had swooped back down to Penticton afterward.
"We came here to see it anything caught our eye," said Pruegger, "and what should we find but the same piece we saw last year."
It was a massive, glorious work at an appropriate price and the couple stared lovingly at it while chatting with Matheson about options.
"Now we’re going to try to stop in at as many of the Art Walk venues we can," said Pruegger. "We're going to try to get to the Cannery too."
It was now mid-afternoon, hours past the early morning hot zone of most markets. We skipped "Yuletide at the Lakeside" because time was of the essence, and instead opted for the good folks at the Penticton Seniors Drop-In Centre and their annual "Christmas Fair."
There, we chatted with veteran vendor Dianne Gough of Okanagan Falls, who creates everything she sells, from handmade greeting cards to candy boxes to dishcloths and super cool drink coasters made from Scrabble tiles.
"It was crazy first thing this morning," said the upbeat retiree, "and then it petered off around noon. But I did very well."
It was a sentiment echoed by vendor Brenda Kane of Keremeos, who was working her third Drop-In Centre Christmas market.
Kane makes fabric mushroom and gnome ornaments. They're adorable.
"I'm a painter normally," she explained. "I paint constantly. But I wanted to make other things. I just wanted another outlet for my creativity. So I started with these mushrooms because they’re something that are close to me. And it just grew from there."
The Drop-In Centre was a nice calm conclusion to our day. Except we weren't finished.
We'd originally wanted to begin our day with pancakes and end it with a little wine. So we once again headed to Kaleden where wineries like Lakeboat and Black Market were pouring vino and building bonfires and more not only as part of the Kaleden Progressive Winter Market, but also as part of the 2023 OK Falls/Skaha Lake Winery Association's "Holiday Cheer" event.
It was one of several times during this crazily busy day when events overlapped.
Later, we made our final stop of the day at Blasted Church Winery on the east side of Skaha Lake. It was also part of the Holiday Cheer event, and it gave us one more chance to tell Santa what a good boy we'd been all day.
He hope he was listening. It was a busy day for him too.
