Westisle craft fair aiming for triumphant return

For 15 years the Westisle Christmas Market, a craft fair at P.E.I.'s Westisle Composite High School, has just been a fond memory, but it will be back this weekend with more than 100 vendors from all parts of the province.

Valene Gallant has helped lead a team of volunteers to bring the fundraising event back to the school. Gallant was asked in January to help bring it back and she leaped at the idea.

"I remember as a child attending that and I remember how much fun it was for me," she said.

"I remember certain vendors, some of the little items that they sold, and I remember how it was exciting for me to be able to go and make it a tradition with my mom and my sister."

Running out of volunteers

But the craft fair became something of a victim of its own success, said Gallant.

As it grew larger it took more and more time for school staff to put it on. A request for help from the community went unanswered, and it was shut down.

Until this year.

"We're just hoping that we get the support and the shoppers that we're looking for as we're hoping to make this an annual event," said Gallant.

"We already have dates lined up for next year. It's very nice to see this come back to West Prince."

'I wanted all of P.E.I. to be excited'

Gallant has previous volunteer experience that helped her bring the event together. She is vice chair of the P.E.I. Potato Blossom Festival, and has organized smaller scale craft fairs.

"The only challenge that I got into was  — everybody knows everybody in West Prince — was to build my horizons and to go to the other end of the Island," she said.

"That's what I wanted. I wanted all of P.E.I. to be excited for this to come back and not just the folks in West Prince."

Money raised by the event will go toward updates for the school library. Gallant said renovations will turn the library into something more like a cozy study space, rather than an area mainly focused on books.

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With files from Island Morning