A beloved Winnipeg craft sale is preparing to host its 25th anniversary show at the Red River Exhibition Place and is welcoming everyone to the milestone event. <\/p>\n
“People often ask me if I am surprised at how far we have come and when I stop to think about it, I am,” said Scattered Seeds founder Deb Schwartz. <\/p>\n Long before the days of internet advertising in 1985, Schwartz decided to host a craft sale at her home in East St. Paul. Her interest in hosting resulted from inspiration from her late friend Rose Tanasichuk. <\/p>\n “I come from a long line of crafty people and my sister Linda and I were taking some folk art painting classes from my friend Rose, and she was quite the entrepreneur herself,” Schwartz said. <\/p>\n “She had a passion for folk art and painting. My sister, a stay-at-home mom, was looking for a way to make a few extra bucks at Christmas, so we gathered together some of our other crafty friends and decided to have a craft sale.”<\/p>\n Word of mouth quickly spread and over the next several years, Schwartz and her sister built a following and a community of crafters. <\/p>\n “Funny story — I would make notes and put them in the kids’ Halloween bags when they came trick or treating,” Schwartz said.<\/p>\n “Before long we had over 600 women traipsing through our house shopping for our crafts. We met really great people and we were thrilled.”<\/p>\n The craft show quickly outgrew the Schwartz’s residence and a decade later, Scattered Seeds was created and hosted at the Transcona Country Club for a single year in 1995. After needing more space for the event, the crafters moved to Assiniboia Downs up until 2010 and have used the Red River Ex since then.<\/p>\n Deb’s daughter Emily has grown up in the crafting world and has seen her mother’s show take off. Now the market manager for the event, Emily and her mother have chosen to arrange Scattered Seeds through two weekends this month from Oct. 15 to 17 and Oct. 22 to 24.<\/p>\n “When it was in our living room it was obviously this tiny little thing, and now it’s grown so much over the years,” Emily said. <\/p>\n “We feel really lucky and honoured that many people want to be a part of it. We have something for everyone and every age demographic.”<\/p>\n Around 140 crafters will be on display each weekend: the majority are Manitoban with a few coming in from Saskatchewan and Alberta. Masks will be mandatory for everyone attending and capacity has been lowered to 50 per cent, with tickets available for purchase over two-hour time periods to reduce crowding. As a result of the event being classified as retail pop-up, vaccine QR codes will not be mandatory. <\/p>\n Lisa Pointon-Reico and her husband Sean are one of many vendors setting up shop at the event. Owners of dconstruct jewelry, an ecofriendly design focused jewelry and homeware company, the couple has been participating at the show for 10 years and would not miss it for the world.<\/p>\n “I think right now, the fact that we haven’t been able to do shows for the last two years, Scattered Seeds is a lovely show,” Pointon-Reico said.<\/p>\n “A lot of the materials we work with are ecoresin-based that is recycled and sustainable. We’re kind of all about bright bold and colourful pieces.”<\/p>\n Pointon-Reico said shows like this offer vendors a chance to test the market and see how people will respond to their products.<\/p>\n “It’s nice to get everyone together, see our fellow craftspeople and great for the community to come out and support, physically see things and touch them, it’s good to be back,” Pointon-Reico said.<\/p>\n Gramma’s Kettle Korn, a Scattered Seeds veteran participant of 15 years, is getting ready to debut pumpkin spice sweet and salty corn, their new kettle flavour at the show. <\/p>\n “I believe we were the original kettle corn company in Winnipeg,” said Teresa Foyle, owner of Gramma’s Kettle Korn.<\/p>\n “That alone allowed us to get people to try it, and a lot of people aren’t familiar with it. It’s a very popular item in the States.”<\/p>\n Sold in stores across Selkirk, Foyle said she is grateful to have the show return and admires the hard work Deb’s team puts in each year.<\/p>\n “The quality of the show they present enables us to introduce our product to a whole new batch of people that have never tried kettle corn,” Foyle said.<\/p>\n “It’s a terrific show and the girls do a great job every year.”<\/p>\n For Deb, seeing her daughter’s involvement in the show reinforces her enthusiasm to do what she loves and sees the event as a piece of her legacy to give to Emily. <\/p>\n “As I get older, it now looks like I may have the privilege of passing the torch to the next generation and that excites me,” Deb said.<\/p>\n
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