Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Spooky will meet holly-jolly at the Napanee Lion’s Hall on Oct. 25 during an indoor market known as the Nightmare Before Christmas Sale.
Hosted by Jennifer Collins, the market will feature 20 vendors offering a mix of one-of-a-kind Halloween, autumn and Christmas décor and gifts.
Collins, who also runs A Kid In A Candy Shop and will be one of the vendors, says putting together events like this are a bit more challenging in 2020. This will be the third such event she’s put together since COVID-19 forced the shutdown of indoor markets. Since then they’ve been given the green light by KFLA Public Health to re-open, but with several new measures put in place.
“Everything’s been cancelled and there’s a lot of things you got to do, but I figured something is better than nothing, even if I had to cut my (vendor) numbers and I had to watch the door (to ensure only a certain number of shoppers were inside at a given time) and the protocols I’ve got to follow,” said Collins. “With everything being cancelled that’s fine, I can do that. Most of the vendors are just home businesses anyway and there hasn’t been a lot of places for them to sell their stuff and Christmas season is coming so where are they going to get their extra money that they usually have every year?”
Collins has been organizing events like this for the last six years, starting at the Strathcona Paper Centre before moving to the Lion’s Hall. Since she started up again in September she says there’s been a steady increase in the number of shoppers, starting with 61 the first time out, followed by 94 at the most recent market earlier this month.
The Oct. 25 market will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free and members of the Lion’s Club will be on hand to operate the canteen.
“It’s fall and Halloween and Christmas is starting,” Collins says of the theme. “A lot of people have their products for Christmas and they’re starting to put them out now. Some people still have their fall wreaths and Halloween decorations. So we’ve combined the two.”
Similar markets are planned for Nov. 15, Nov. 22, Dec. 6 and Dec. 13. Along with giving home businesses an outlet to sell their merchandise, the markets are also a welcome site for the Lion’s Club, which has seen many of their previous rentals dry up in the wake of COVID-19.
Collins says the vendors missed the markets just as much as the customers.
“You miss that community connection that you have, you get your regular customers that come through all the time and you haven’t seen them in so long,” said Collins. “Us as a group of vendors I have about seven regulars that come to each sale that I have and they’ve been coming to each one for the last six years. You start to feel like a little family.”
A Facebook page for the event, titled Nightmare Before Christmas Sale has been launched in advance of the event.