Tis the rainy season. Fortunately, there’s brightness on the horizon with the advent of craft fairs and culture crawls. I’m heading to Circle Craft tonight to start my Christmas shopping. (Right, last time a friend and I did the craft fair circuit we bought more for ourselves than anyone else.) This five-day market is the granddaddy of markets. It’s been running since 1973 at various locations, featuring the best of Canadian artisans: wood-turners, glassblowers, sculptors and potters, clothing and jewellery designers, toy-makers.
Next weekend I’ll be taking in the Eastside Culture Crawl, a three-day celebration of visual arts, design and crafts. Most years I hit a couple of the buildings, then meander through the beautiful Strathcona neighbourhood, wandering into artist studio homes, sipping coffee at the Wilder Snail. With all this craft and culture, November is actually bearable on the wet coast.