The Sunflower Art and Craft Market is an institution in Yorkton, but while the name of the show stays the same the people in it change significantly every year. That’s true of 2017 as well, with 41 vendors who were new to the show.
Those new vendors included Theresa Nabe with Prairie Western Rustic Art. Nabe builds everything from scratch, often using found objects like animal skulls and weathered building materials in her work.
“It’s just the history of it and I like the potential. I like to repurpose stuff. I love wood, wood grain, old wire and metal.”
Her paintings are of subjects familiar to the rural audience, with livestock like horses and cattle being a mainstay of her work. Nabe’s familiarity with the animals is part of the reason why she likes to paint them.
“I grew up with horses and I worked with cattle at Heartland Livestock.”
Nabe spends most of her time travelling with her art, following the chuckwagon circuit and selling there. Sunflower is a bit different from where she usually sells, she admits, since it’s not just her selling art, but it didn’t take long for her to sell a piece at the show.
The best way to find Nabe is through Facebook, and she says that has been a big help for her business, as she has had work commissioned through Montana and Iowa. Nabe is happy to do commissions, and is excited to get started on some of the next work she has through that Facebook connection.
“I just got a skull from Montana. This guy is 80 and he jumps mules over cliffs and chariot races and he just sent me a cow skull to paint on. I can’t wait to paint on it.”
It’s not just the arts and crafts that get people excited about Sunflower, it’s also the food. Local honey producers BR Honey, operated by Barry and Rashele Wasylenchuk, have just begun selling their products in the city, and were at Sunflower to show off their goods.
While you can get regular, old fashioned honey from BR Honey, what sets them apart is their flavoured honey, coming in every variety the Wasylenchuks can think of. Barry Wasylenchuk explains that they want to have something for everyone, and a kind of honey for every situation.
“The chile chipotle, we thought some people like something hot. We actually use it to barbecue chicken, we use it on the smoker... Bacon flavour, that one’s really good on toast. Peanut butter and toast, that’s a classic... We have the fruitier flavours for people who like to put honey in tea.”
They also had brightly coloured straws filled with honey for a bit of a snack, and also as a way for people to try out flavours.
While new to having their own honey business, Wasylenchuk has been working with bees for nine years before getting his own.
“We needed something to do with our honey because I had a lot of it sitting around!”
A local honey producer, Wasylenchuk claims local honey is good for people’s health, especially those with allergies, since the bees are foraging from local plants, which could help get people acclimated to the environment around them. He believes local, raw, unfiltered honey is the best choice for a sweetener, and you can’t get much more local than BR Honey.
“I’ve been here all my life, she’s been here all her life, our bees are just outside of town.”
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