The Okanagan Vintage Fair returned to Penticton's Shatford Centre yesterday, and judging by the turnout it didn't come a moment too soon.
Just an hour in at 11 a.m., the place was jammed. At times, it was virtually impossible to move from one end of the auditorium to the other. And a captive audience is a great thing for vendors.
Vivian O'Connor of Princeton was set up in the northwest corner of the room. She runs Second Chance Hats, and her space was filled with folks trying on her chic chapeaus.
"I'm a hat hunter," she said, "and these are my babies. I love hats. Vintage hats. Any kind of hat. They're little pieces of art."
O'Connor is a regular at the Vintage Fair, and she's a big fan of Fair founder Leigh Burrows. "Leigh puts these on, and thank god for her because otherwise there's not much. There's no markets at all in Princeton."
Originally from Vancouver, O'Connor says she finds her hats "wherever I can."
"I started when no one else were interested in hats. It was underground. And people started finding me, so I had a pretty steady business selling to people from all walks of life. But then hats suddenly started to become popular."
O'Connor said she brought 300 hats with her to the fair, and she sincerely believes in their stylistic magic. "Instead of going out and buying an entire outfit, you just go out and buy a hat and it changes your mindset completely."
Over in the Galleria, Grace MacLennan of Keremeos-based Wild Pies - a new home-baked pies outfit that PentictonNow will feature in a future profile - explained that she began her business in 2017 by "testing the market" in her hometown of Saskatoon.
The test proved so successful that when she moved to the Okanagan last year, she tested the market again at last summer's Penticton Farmer's Market. The results were promising enough to convince her to plunge full steam ahead into the business.
According to MacLennan, she brought 112 mini pies to yesterday's event. By noon, only two hours after the doors opened, she had just nine pies left.
No wonder. MacLennan's pies are straight-up delicious. Some of the best pies we've ever tasted. More on that in a couple weeks.
Vintage Fair founder and organizer Leigh Burrows, spotted in the crowd at noon, was taken slightly aback by the turnout. "Yep, it's busy today," she laughed. "We've had a good crowd come out...hundreds through the door already."
"I think it's spring , it's nice outside, we've all been cooped up. February was pretty harsh on us. I think everybody is just ready for a spring shop."
Burrows keeps a rather tight rein on things, maintaining her "mainly vintage or vintage inspired" credo and pushing for quality over quantity. And she believes that's part of the reason the Vintage Fair has become so popular. "I think the way the world is these days is that people are way more into sustainable shopping."
Indeed, the Fair will expand this year beyond Penticton and Kelowna to include Vernon too. "We have three now. The new Fair in Vernon will be April 13th. So this is great. Now we have the South and the North Okanagan, and each location has a unique cross section of vendors."
The next Vintage Fair is set for May 11th at the Parkinson Recreation Centre in Kelowna.
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