A popular November craft show in Churchbridge was cancelled due to COVID, but it has been replaced by a sort of online marketplace for area crafter.
Terissa Prince is president of the Churchbridge Lioness the organization that has hosted the craft show as a fundraiser. She is also a crafter who knows the loss of markets such as the show hurt.
“I make wood signs and home decor, and my business took a really big hit with COVID,” she said.
So when the Lioness had to cancel the live show, Prince was part of a conversation to look for an alternative.
“Hundreds of people come to it each year,” she said, adding it’s a great place for crafters.
As discussions surrounding a replacement concept were going, Prince happened upon an online show being hosted in a small community in Wisconsin. The Facebook page had thousands of ‘like’.
“I thought, why can’t we do this?” she said.
So Prince took the lead and launched the idea on Facebook.
“It’s kind of blowing up,” she said, noting there has been lots of interest from people wanting to post what they have.
“It’s really for handcrafts, homemade things,” she said, adding they hope to keep it relatively local, supporting sellers within about 150 kms of Churchbridge.
The concept is people make a single post about what they have to sell, including any links and prices they want, with as many photos as they want to add to the single post.
The page itself becomes a single, one-stop sport for people to scroll through for unique gifts for the season which are locally sourced.
Prince said anyone seeing something they like simply deals with the specific craft poster.
When the season is over, Prince said they hope there might be some support for he Lioness Club too.
“We hope to get a donation back to the club if people are able,” he said.
People can post products to the Facebook page; Churchbridge Online Christmas Craft Show, from Nov. 1 to the end of the month.
