By Ryan O’Dowd
December 10th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington’s first annual Holiday Market kicked off Thursday evening running from 4 pm to 9 pm downtown Burlington and will showcase local Burlington businesses all weekend.
The market’s first night started slowly, traffic on the Elgin Promenade was scarce until crowds slowly began to funnel in around 6 pm. Still, the mood around the festivities was positive. Shop owners were excited to showcase their wares in the outdoor marketplace, happy to be free of the rigid pandemic restrictions that have limited capacity for the better part of two years.
Back by Bees. Aimee(right) Chrissie (left)
The local Burlington business owners set up tents along the snow-swept promenade beneath strings of lights shining red, green, and gold. The temperatures were low on the windy winter evening but customers could ease the chill with drinks from a booth in the Poacher parking lot, operated by the restaurant.
Many of the vendors used this opportunity to craft holiday-specific items for purchase at the market while raising brand awareness. The eponymous owner of Joseph Tassoni sold designer Christmas Holiday Trees as opposed to his award-winning parkas and other fashion items, which were showcased in the background. Tassoni said he was proud to showcase his products made right there in downtown Burlington and is filling what he sees as a void in mid-priced fashion.
Joseph Tassoni with examples of what ‘made in downtown Burlington’ actually is.
“What I wanted to do is kind of engage into as many markets as possible to interact with the community again, and kind of give them an example as to what ‘made in downtown Burlington’ actually is. Often brands claim to be made in Canada, when the majority of the time it’s made overseas, and they just flip it here. So it’s kind of wonderful to show people what we are capable of in our crafts.”
The Odd Spot is following suit with seasonal original items in the form of “mystery boxes.” You don’t know what you’re buying with the boxes but they feature 10 items from the store and a gift card. It’s an approach Rich from the Odd Spot thinks will make for a great gift.
“We’ve jammed all kinds of stuff in there, there’s a t-shirt in there and a bunch of servers over 30 bucks with the stuff in there. And then we also threw a $5 to $10 denomination gift card inside. Just kind of as a gift. So you pay 20 bucks to give someone a gift but you don’t even know what it is. And then they open it. And then there’s a gift card inside. If they like the stuff they come back.”
That the market was a celebration of all things local became a familiar refrain throughout the evening. Aimee with Backed by Bees discussed the focus on sustainability and using local Ontario goods.
“We’re looking for sustainability products. So everything that you see is local to Ontario. Made by us by small vendors in the area. We do local produce, farm fresh eggs, and dairy. We specialize in raw honey which is unprocessed and pasteurized. We do all kinds of different flavors but specialize in raw honey, and with that honey we make our mead. So it’s a circular process and we have a whole lot of ways to try to do our best for these sustainability efforts.”
Gift Baskets: The contributing artists must live within an hour of Burlington.
Lindsay with the Handmade House was showcasing local artists’ works with gift baskets at the event. The contributing artists must live within an hour of Burlington. Tomorrow the Handmade House will feature “build your own gift boxes”
“And then what we’re doing tonight is just a selection of gift baskets because we can’t possibly showcase all the thousands of beautiful things we have. So our vendors have put together some gift boxes to show everybody what we can offer there for sale and then we’d like to send people up to the storefront.”
The crowd, small in numbers on the first evening, did not lack for enthusiasm.
“It’s great to see things like this, it just feels like things are back to normal,” said Jessica, a woman browsing in the market.
“Burlington always does a good job with markets, it’s a fun atmosphere,” said Martha, who tries to make it out every time Burlington hosts an event like this.
The Burlington Holiday Market has promised fun, family friendly activities including concerts and choirs, interactive community art features, and advent-style community displays. These were not showcased on the first evening of the event so expect them over the weekend. Thursday featured 13 vendors, lower than the announced 20+, perhaps more will arrive as the weekend progresses.
After a rough couple of years for retail, participating vendors are certainly hoping the buzz around the market will build throughout the weekend. The market will run with much longer hours over the coming days: 11 am to 9 pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
