Five Saturday holiday markets keep Fort Erie shoppers close to home

Five holiday markets opened across Fort Erie on Saturday morning, but organizer Leslie Kinghorn says shoppers with tight budgets must now choose carefully where they spend.

Kinghorn runs the Fire Hall Craft and Vendor Show on Central Avenue, which divides its proceeds between the Central Station Volunteer Firefighters Association and Willson House, Hospice Niagara’s 10-bed hospice on King Street.

“Local charities need all the help they can get right now,” said Kinghorn.

The other four markets were held at the Fort Erie Lions Seniors Centre, Crystal Ridge Community Centre, Faith Reformed Church and Black Creek Leisure Homes.

Kinghorn has run the fire hall market since it began 14 years ago.

“We started the first year the hall was here, and we used to be the only ones,” said Kinghorn.

Twenty-eight vendors sold their wares at the fire hall on Saturday, down from 45 last year. Kinghorn said some of the crafters she lost had double-booked with other markets.

Kinghorn plans to donate the hospice’s share in memory of her sister-in-law, who made repeated trips to St. Catharines during her husband’s long illness.

“She kept saying, ‘We really need one in Fort Erie,’ and of course we didn’t have one,” said Kinghorn.

The Fort Erie Lions Club Fall Craft Show on High Street had 16 vendors, but organizer Rhonda Rutkowski said only about three had sold there before.

Crafters now struggle to choose among so many markets, Rutkowski said, but those who come to the Lions market choose it because of where its money goes.

“It’s going to help people in our community,” said Rutkowski. “That’s what Lions is all about.”

This year’s proceeds go to Campfire Circle, formerly Camp Trillium, which sends children with cancer to camp free for a week.

About 20 crafters who live at Black Creek Leisure Homes in Stevensville sold exclusively handmade goods at the community’s Christmas Market Arts and Craft Sale, which has run for about 25 years.

“There’s a lot of people in here that don’t drive, and they like to just come here,” said organizer Bonnie Climenhage Backshall, who has run the sale for about 15 years. “They’ve got such a nice selection that they start their Christmas shopping with us.”

Backshall, a crafter for 47 years, has sculpted award-winning art dolls in polymer clay before she returned to painting.

She said she prefers smaller markets like Black Creek’s, where she knows everybody.

“A lot of the crafters will start several months ahead to get their products ready,” said Backshall.

The Ridgeway Lioness Lions’ Christmas Magic Craft Show at Crystal Ridge Community Centre advertised more than 20 vendors, down from more than 30 in 2024.

Faith Reformed Church’s Holly Daze Bazaar on Black Creek Road in Stevensville ran a silent auction and a basket raffle alongside its baked goods.

The Navy League Cadets will raise money at their Holiday Crafter’s Market on Saturday, November 14, at the Black Creek Community Centre on Baker Road in Stevensville.

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