The Colonel Gray Music Department hosted its annual Christmas Craft Fair on Saturday. Vendors practicing a range of disciplines came from across PEI. Smokey Mountain Dips, a spice blend company, came from Moncton.
Band students staffed the event, working in the canteen, selling fudge, taking admission, corralling cars, helping shoppers, and providing vendors with tea. They also played music and helped a certain vendor in selling large Christmas wreaths.
Admissions and fudge sales went to the band trip, while money in tip jars around the fair went to instrument repairs. Student volunteers got a credit off of their band trip payment based on their hours.
One of the most popular disciplines at the fair was knitting. Knit-Twit and Knit-Knacks had a diverse array of products for sale. Also among the knitters was Sylvia Andrew, former band teacher at QC. Andrew said that this year’s grade twelve students were her last students before her retirement in 2019.
Cindy Burton of Wild Island Magic has an extensive world pertaining to her knitwear and animal creations, which all relate to Wild Island, an invisible island north of PEI. Burton says that “It’s easier for me to create things when it fits into a cohesive narrative.”
Several woodworkers attended the fair, including Larry Lecky, a Summerside carpenter who builds unique birdhouses. Wooden Fox Woodworking also sold their artwork, which is made with wood epoxy resin and a scroll saw. The wood is mostly from windfall and diseased trees found on PEI.
Another popular area was pottery. Heathyr Francis, of PIN Studios, quit a Masters in Science to do Art. “I realised that pottery is actually a lot of science, and it uses a lot of the same creative thinking and critical thinking that science uses.” She later finished her Masters. “They both… compliment each other.” Francis teaches at the PEI Potter’s Studio. She says that students interested in pottery can apply for the classes.
Selkirk Stories, a publishing house that prints fiction and out-of-print genealogy books relating to PEI’s Scottish history, also attended. The publisher is named for Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, a figure integral to Scottish settlement on PEI, and derives its logo from his crest.
When asked if there was anything else they would like to say about the craft fair, band volunteers Paige Dudley and Reuben Vail said,
“Come to the craft fair next year.”
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