The Estevan Farmers’ Market is preparing for its upcoming Christmas sale.
The market will be starting on Nov. 25 at 9:30 a.m. and running until 2:00 p.m. at the Estevan Shoppers Mall. Additionally it will run through the Christmas season on Dec. 2, 9 and the 16th.
There are approximately 40 vendors scheduled to be at the market and some of them are coming out for the first time. All vendors who attended can stay past the 2:00 p.m conclusion if they choose to, which means Estevan locals will have more time to shop.
“We are really happy to have a good amount of vendors to our customers and we are looking at close to 40 vendors and we are spread out over four Saturdays,” said Patricia Thompson, who is the marketing manager for the Farmers’ Market.
Thompson noted that more home crafters would be out at this year’s market, which is something that was on a downward trend until this year.
“We are seeing an increase in our home crafters which is basically what the farmers’ market is all about, your produce, home crafters, and we of course appreciate our home based business vendors,” said Thompson.
“We had people who are reviving crochet knitting and that kind of thing so it is nice to see all that come back. ”
“A lot of our vendors are repurposing items like barn wood and that kind of thing,” she added.
The Christmas Market this year will be featuring some new local vendors to the market and they vary from authors to painters. Christine Muggleton who does children’s paintings will be new to the market, as will authors Marie Calder and Jennifer Kuchinka.
The Farmers’ and Christmas markets both look to be very healthy with an increase in sales.
“We had a board meeting about a week ago and we have seen an increase in sales in our 2017 season so far,” said Thompson.
The Estevan Farmers’ market has been apart of the Estevan community for a long time. Thompson estimates close to 30 years, and of those years she is unsure how the long the Christmas Markets have been taking place.
Thompson herself started as a vendor selling crafts her at various markets and has since moved on to the management side of things.
“As a vendor, I was a crafter and I have been managing for about five years and I have been involved with the market for close to 10,” said Thompson.
