Two Cowboys: Last Market for 2016 at Home with Canmore Christmas Artisans' Market in Alberta, Canada

At Home

Christmas is at home this year. Home is where the heart is. Home is also the place where friends and family work all year to support themselves and contribute to their community.

Canmore's Christmas Artisans' Market is our local Christmas market in this beautiful Rocky Mountain town. It is the market where we have our Chocolatier, Coffee Roaster, Potter and Woodcarver. Eighty local and visiting crafters attend the two-day market each year, which is in its 21st year.

See This Video on Patreon: Click Here

"For as little as $1/month you will get the inside track on content like this and follow the travels of the Two Cowboys & A Camera. Join here."

The Market was created in 1996 as a fundraising event for the parent-cooperative Canmore Preschool Society. It has been a successful annual event ever since that takes place on the third weekend in November. Vendors come from Invermere and across Alberta to spend the weekend in the mountains with Canmorians.

There is a high standard for goods at the market, and Artists and Artisans are carefully selected for their creativity and craftsmanship in addition to balancing the variety of offerings available at the market. Because it is a local market, Bow Valley residents receive preference. All goods are handmade and sold by the person who made them.

The market continues to be the largest annual fundraiser for Canmore Preschool and takes place at the Canmore Collegiate High School.

Observations

We attended on Sunday morning, the second day of the market. We were due to fly out to Auckland New Zealand the afternoon for our last visit to the Islands. We just couldn't pass up an opportunity to quickly check in on our friends. Every possible space was filled with the creativity of another artist or producer. Some were at their usual spots and others were newcomers. It included many familiar local and out of town faces from previous years.

The market is almost like a giant reunion for crafters. Vendors become friends as they attend market after market, year after year. They connect and take stock of their year's achievements. It is also an opportunity to make one more last sale before packing in for the Winter, and a welcome break with family and friends.

Because the market is well attended by the same vendors year-after-year, it provides an opportunity to see the Artisans' development. They display new and innovative products. You can witness improvement in their craftsmanship. The wares are often made just a little bit better than
the year before.

Attending the market is not so much about shopping as it is an opportunity to visit good old friends. That is why a local market is such an attraction for us. It brings people together. We love visiting our markets and tell the stories of the people that make the market a local market. Our market.

Thank you for supporting our market indulgence. We appreciate you sharing our content and rely on your continued support and sponsorship in 2017 when we will revisit our familiar places, meet with folks, friends and add to our portfolio of market coverage across Canada and New Zealand.

We do it because our local markets are the souls of our communities. It is where businesses ultimately begin. It is where we invest in ourselves.

Hendrik van Wyk
Artisan Cowboy

Get rewarded for supporting our local Producers: Receive special offers and invitations from the Two Cowboys and our Producers when you subscribe to our email list.

We are a content company. We earn our livelihood from producing great content about inspiring people and their stories. We use Patreon to help us earn from our work. It allows us to have a closer relationship with our collaborators and grow our audience. If you Sponsor us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/twocowboys or Donate to our cause on GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/twocowboys we can do a lot more for you, your business, event or community.

Photos

Jelly Friends 

Coffee Friends

o-CNN: Cowboy News Network - Tiny Newspapers

Local Journalist (Re)Invents the News

Peter Worden is the Nanton Experiment Editor-in-Chief, publisher, reporter and in charge of general office morale (office of one, as far as we can tell). We caught up with him in Revelstoke B.C. This is his winter hideout, where he shelters from the biting icy Nanton prairie winds. There could also be a woman involved, but we didn't dare to ask, and saw nothing.

Peter shares our Cowboy News Network opinion that a whole lot of local community news is going missing, because our media in small-town Canada is no longer "local media". Most of the newspapers and radio stations in our towns and cities are owned and operated by large out-of-town media conglomerates. They are too much profit and circulation driven, and hence miss the truly valuable and inspiring stories of the people in the community.

To fill the void, he struck on an innovative idea to go tiny, in a tiny town. He publishes the Nanton Experiment, which claims to be Canada's biggest tiny newspaper. More recently he also took on the responsibilities for the Reved, which covers arts, adventure and all things awesome in Revelstoke.

In line with his recent success with the Nanton Experiment, the Reved now also boasts a "Quarter, 1/4'ly". The headline for this quarter is a downtown marriage ceremony slated for 22 May, to which "...the whole world is invited". The tiny newspaper comes complete with instructions on how to make Revelstoke the eloping mecca for people on a budget.

We asked Peter if there is enough news to cover in these small towns. He assured us that the beauty of his endeavour is that, as with most news in small towns, it has a tendency to grow and get more interesting with time. "Stories get bigger, and before you know it, you can skate (publish) with the rest of the more mainstream and national media, by make things up as you go.

We plan to catch-up with Peter again later in summer. His efforts are definitely putting the spotlight on our communities, and we are eager to contribute in our way to his mission.

In the mean time, enjoy the introduction in this post and video.

Hendrik van Wyk
Cowboy News Anchor

Get rewarded for supporting our local Producers. Receive special offers and invitations from the Two Cowboys.
Please help us to bring you more of these programs by supporting us on Patreon: www.forwardthefavour.com. 

o-CNN: Cowboy News Network - Canmore Uncorked, Launch Party

Canmore is Uncorked for 2016

What do you do if you have the world's best chefs, best mountains, fresh air, clean water and Alberta prairie produce? You arrange a party. Twelve days of eating, drinking and celebration to be more specific! Just because you "Can-more". 

If you need an excuse to come to Canmore Uncorked, you better find it quickly. Tickets are almost all gone.

Come for the steak, the beer, the wine, the salad and the creativity of over thirty participating food producers and serving establishments. Most of all, come for the Canmore welcome. 

Get Uncorked! You should be here...

Hendrik

Roaming "Uncorked" Cowboy Reporter

P.S. o-CNN will be covering the event, so like our channel on Youtube, and follow our posts to get the scoop on what is popping the next twelve days.

Get rewarded for supporting our local Producers. Receive special offers and invitations from the Two Cowboys.

Who we are: We are a social enterprise. We are funded through donations and sponsorship. 
All our earnings are applied back to covering our costs of marketing and promoting Producers and inspiring local communities. Please support us to bring you more (www.forwardthefavour.com)

Pictures

Cold One?

Should We?

Today Canmore, Tomorrow the World

Precision and Dedication

Beets

Let Me In

Yes!!

Yes Chef