MARKET MUSINGS

January 21, 2015 · 0 Comments

By Jan Freedman

Happy New Year’s greetings to all. I hope that you experienced a wonderful time with family and friends over the holidays.
Now that everyone is back at work and school, the Aurora Farmers’ Market and Artisan Fair also gears up for our first indoor market of 2015 at the Aurora Cultural Centre on Saturday, January 17.
More about that later.
I’d like to introduce you to Sue Williams and her SDD Flags business.
Sue grew up in Washington, a small town in northeast England. She attended Washington Comprehensive School, but left at the age of 16 to begin work in a factory making jeans.
This was where she learned to sew.
At the age of 26, she gave birth to her son. Later on, she began working at a small factory in Consett making flags and custom banners and discovered that she loved her work.
At about this time, she began to think about moving to Canada. The prospect was both exciting and scary. She was 37 years old when she moved from England to Canada, settled in Winnipeg and began working at Sears part time with a second part time job in a shop making flags.
Sue, however, did not feel fulfilled doing the work for someone else and wanted some reward for her hard work. She decided to make flags as a hobby and to sell them, and interest grew in her work.
She soon began to create beautiful flags, banners and custom flags for companies such as Kitchen Craft, schools and sign companies.
After two years in Winnipeg, she moved to Ontario, where she started making custom banners for Sears and other companies. While her business was growing, Sue also worked other jobs. Then, in 2014, she decided to try to take her business to farmers’ markets and became part of the Aurora Farmers’ Market and Artisan Fair.
She participates in both the outdoor and indoor seasons. She absolutely loves being part of the market and enjoys meeting lots of new people, many of whom have become her customers. I encourage you to stop by her table to meet her and admire her lovely work.
The following vendors are those who have confirmed their attendance at the indoor market on January 17 at the Aurora Cultural Centre at press time. Please keep in mind that there are sometimes last minute changes to this list which occur after the column has gone to print.
The farmers will be represented by Andy and 19th Avenue Farm, Peter and Oakridges Finest, John and Snowden Farm, Kate and Kind Organics and Andre or Jim of Pioneer Honey.
The food vendors will be represented by Jan’s Country Pantry, Dos Mariachi, Sass Teas, Catharina’s Kitchen, Nutmeg Bake Shop, Sasha’s Sweet’s, Rustic Bread, Boulangerie St. George and Rob’s Good Foods. The York Region Food Network also will be there.
The artisans will include Green Leaf Designs, Kibo Soaps, Captain Ted’s Knick Knacks, Eva Designs, Heartsease Company, Catch My Drift, Katie Argyle’s Out of My Mind, artist Robert Pow and SDD Flags.
Please plan to come to visit the farmers, food vendors and artisans of the Aurora Farmers’ Market and Artisan Fair this Saturday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Aurora Cultural Centre.
We’ll all be looking forward to seeing you again.
See you at the Indoor Market!