Pierson’s Carnival of Crafts done after 40 years

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This article was published 18/06/2019 (2547 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For 40 years, the first Saturday of October has seen Pierson’s Edward Sports Centre packed with people. The Carnival of Crafts has drawn thousands of people to the tiny community of approximately 200 in the Municipality of Two Borders.

But now, the organizers are saying goodbye to the longtime event.

Betty Mayes, a member of the event’s organizing committee for 18 years, said that by the time the decision was made to not go ahead with this year’s show, only 37 vendors had signed up. They had almost 80 in 2018. Organizers extended registrations past the deadline at the end of April to no avail.

“We gave people a chance to get their entries in, but they just didn’t come this year,” Mayes said. “I felt sad. We certainly wanted it to keep going.”

Mayes said that at its peak, the event had between 1,800 to 2,200 visitors a year.

“The last few years, it’s been around the 1,000 (person mark) because of the economy and population has declined over 40 years,” Mayes said. “We were happy to get the 1,000.”

“What it meant to the community is difficult to sum up in a couple of words,” said Debbie McMechan, Reeve of the Municipality of Two Borders, where Pierson is located. McMechan said that she has participated at the carnival as both a visitor and volunteer for the 35 years she has been in the area. All of her kids have volunteered as well.

“Some of my best memories of it are working in the kitchen alongside some of the community women, working at the pie counter. Those were good times because you got to see all kinds of folks, spend good times with people you’ve known a long, long time. … It was kind of like saying, ‘this is what our community represents.’”

Organizers say that the decision by those behind Brandon’s Big One Arts & Crafts Sale to move their first week to the first weekend in October has forced their regular vendors to choose between exhibiting at a small-town fair versus one in a far larger community. Other factors in the decision to close were declining numbers of visitors and the difficulty of attracting vendors.

For the past two years, Brandon’s Big One had been put on during the second and third weekends in October. This year, that fair is running on non-consecutive weekends, including the first and third weekends of the month. Mayes said she sent an email to organizers in Brandon about the scheduling conflict but received no response.

Brandon’s Big One head organizer Karen Keilback told The Sun that the dates for this year’s fair were chosen well in advance and that the change of dates from last year is to work around other events using the Keystone Centre. Keilback said she did not hear about the problems with the Pierson fair until a couple of weeks ago.

“In 2017, right before our sale, I booked for five years out and I had all my dates set up until 2022,” Keilback said. “At the end of the show at 2018, there was an overbooking with the Fall Fair and Ag Days and the rodeo … so we all got bumped with the craft sale. So I was scrambling last fall to figure out what to do for (2019) and the next few years. It was out of my hands, actually, what had happened. No intent to hurt any other community or any other sale.”

Keilback added that 30 of her regular vendors typically exhibit at the Carnival of Crafts one weekend and come to Brandon for the Big One’s second weekend. She said that the overlap between her vendors and the Carnival of Crafts’ for the first weekend represents only eight vendors. Keilback also said that the Fall Into Christmas craft fair in Swift Current, Sask. has moved to the first weekend in October this year and could be competing for vendors’ attentions.

“Ultimately it’s up to the crafters and vendors to choose where they go,” Keilback said.

One of the groups hardest hit by the end of the Carnival of Crafts will be the building that has housed it for decades. Mayes said that the carnival has donated more than $250,000 to the community hockey rink in Pierson. Those funds have typically been used to get the ice surface up and running in the fall after being taken down for the summer. Even with lower attendance, Mayes said approximately $7,000 to $8,000 was being given to the rink every year.

Mayes added that outside money coming in was a boon to the community because they can only fundraise so much in an area with such a small population.

“It meant a lot. We got to know a lot of people. A lot of vendors, they were like old friends coming back each year. … It was important for me to keep the rink going because I have grandchildren in the area. Rather than have them drive out of town, it was really important that they had a place to go to in our community.”

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