The Northern Market took over the Yellowknife Ski Club last Saturday, drawing close to 20 vendors and many Yellowknifers who were seeking creative gift ideas or a little something for themselves.
“It’s great to see everybody shopping local,” said Kerri Nolting, the event organizer.
She aims to line up a diverse range of people selling products and offering services.
“We try to just have one or two people doing soap, one or two people doing photography,” said Nolting.
The market has been running for five years and has bounced back from a pause during the pandemic. Nolting’s formula seems to be working.
“Usually we have a line-up every Saturday waiting to get in,” she said.
She’s a vendor herself under her brand Serious Questions, where she offers custom signs, pillows and workshops.
Mike Nolting, Kerri’s husband, also had a table at the event with his own business: North of 60 Barrelers. The business started as a hobby about seven years ago. He creates home decor and furniture from old oak wine barrels, which he sources from Alberta, B.C., and even Napa Valley in California.
“This year, the new things are the small tables and the whiskey displays,” he said of his creations.
He’s also started working with whiskey barrels in addition to wine barrels.
Mike and Kerri also sandblast glasses.
“We sandblast them all here in Yellowknife. We buy the glasses and the sand actually comes from the Sand Pits up by the airport,” he explained.
They filter and reuse the sand until it becomes too fine, then return it to the Sand Pits and get a fresh batch.
Mike said that to attending the event not only to get exposures for his business, but also a part of support to the family.
Another vendor on hand Saturday was Joanne Fairbrother and her Yellowknife cards. Originally from England, Fairbrother moved to Yellowknife in 2019. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she found herself with ample free time and decided to revisit her passion for artwork, which she had pursued in the past in the UK.
Fairbrother, who fell in love with drawing as a child, creates artwork of various sizes that celebrates what makes the North special. This year marked her second time participating in the Northern Market.
“It’s great to see the locals coming out again. It’s the first one of the season,” she said.
Kerri Nolting said the ski club is a fitting spot for the event.
“It’s a great location. There’s lots of parking, and it’s a big, open area,” she said.
