The First Craft Fair
"I didn't really start a business. It just kind of evolved."
— Linda Quiring
Before there was Saltspring Soapworks, there was a small craft fair at the local community center.
Founder Linda Quiring can't remember exactly who organized it.
What she remembers is how exciting it felt.
"There were just a few of us, ten or twelve perhaps, but what fun!"
Like many people who had recently settled on Salt Spring Island, Linda enjoyed making things by hand. But her herbs, soaps and salves weren't created simply as a hobby. With sensitive skin, she wanted gentle, natural products she couldn't easily find, so she began making them herself.
She shared them with friends and neighbours, never imagining they might one day become a business.
The little Christmas craft fair was the first time she put them on a table for sale.
Soon after, a larger craft show was held at Mahon Hall.
"What a crowd! People were beginning to get what a craft show was! The most fun for me was getting to know the others there, to connect with other crafters and compare our experiences."
The products mattered, but so did the people behind them.
Potters, weavers, bakers, woodworkers and herbalists were all discovering that there was a community of makers on Salt Spring Island. The craft fairs became places to exchange ideas, encourage one another and discover that handmade work had value.
Looking back, those early fairs were about much more than selling.
They were the beginning of a creative community.
Within a year, that small community would begin gathering somewhere new—around a fruit truck in a gravel parking lot beside Centennial Park.
Soon, the craft fairs would give way to something even bigger—the Salt Spring Saturday Market.
A page from Linda Quiring's scrapbook, showing some of the earliest Saltspring Soapworks products. Many first appeared on tables at local craft fairs before the Saturday Market became a weekly tradition.
Continue reading the story
- Archive No. 1: Where It Began?
- Archive No. 2: Why Salt Spring?
