In an era of online shopping, markets still crucial to some vendors 

Greg Fownes and his wife Maureen attended over 40 markets this year.

In 2023, Greg and Maureen left their day jobs to make and sell their art full time. Their company, Joy and Fury Art, sells fine art prints and greeting cards that the two artists originally began making out of their spare room.  

While many businesses have websites or Etsy accounts that they sell from, seasonal or farm markets are still crucial to doing business and meeting clientele. Joy and Fury Art has a website, and sells in some local shops around Halifax, but Fownes said that, not only does 60-70 per cent of their income comes from market sales, the exposure they get from markets also improves their online sales.  

“Somebody will be there with their significant other, and they want to get them a present but they don’t want them to know about it,” so they make an online purchase afterwards. Fownes said they can see a surge of online orders after markets.  

Fownes said about 70 per cent of their business comes in the last three months of the year as people start their Christmas shopping, making holiday markets their most profitable. 

Not all markets are made the same. Some are profitable, others are less so.  

Fownes said table fees, the cost a vendor pays the venue to secure a table at the event, can be as low as $30 and as high as $800. He often doesn’t know how well he’ll do at a market when he pays the fee.  

In early November Joy and Fury Art attended both Halcon and the Dartmouth Handcrafters Guild market. A booth at Halcon was $650 and one at the guild’s market was between $285-$365, plus tax. Fownes says a grand is a lot of money to drop in a single weekend, but it was a calculated risk.  

The weekend ended up being one of Joy and Fury Art’s most profitable. Halcon alone had about 20,000 attendees this year, and more than 150 other vendors. 

The HRM saw more than 20 holiday markets in November this year, and will have one every weekend in December leading up to Christmas.   

Many locals are familiar with the bigger shows, like Christmas at the Forum or the Dartmouth Handcrafters Guild market, but many smaller markets pop up around the municipality from Musquodoboit to Sackville.

SaberX is a Montreal-based company that creates and sells high quality, realistic lightsabers. It has participated in markets and events from Halifax to Toronto, and beyond.  

SaberX representatives attended 18 markets and conventions last year, and plans to attend 40 in 2025, after the company expands into the U.S.  

Founder and owner Matthew Snyder said the high overhead costs of getting into some markets, and the time and cost of getting to them, are some of the hardest parts of attending events. 

“Before we make a single sale, there is a high overhead cost to us,” Snyder said over a video call. 

But attending these events is worth the trouble. For every sale on the company’s website, Snyder said it makes two more in person. He said it’s common for expensive designs to be purchased through the website. The most expensive items for sale cost more than $1,000, but more basic models sell well at in-person markets.  

Snyder said the interaction between customers and their products is a huge benefit of markets for them.  

“When people get it in their hands, the product genuinely sells itself. They’re able to see that it’s not a gimmick, it’s not cheap, and it feels incredible.” 

So, markets are good for business. But how do you make a successful market that vendors can feel confident about participating in? 

Jayme Butt, the communications officer for the Downtown Halifax Business Commission, said the trick to attracting people to an event is to turn it into a destination that people want to attend.  

Think of your favourite market that you visited this year. It might have had hot chocolate or mulled wine for you to drink, a lights display, performance (caroling, anyone?) or maybe even some games to play.

These are all features of the Evergreen Festival, which Butt helped to plan. The festival is a holiday-themed event on the Halifax and Dartmouth waterfronts that includes 22 vendor stalls.  

Butt said events like Evergreen draw people into communities, bringing them into contact with businesses both within and outside the event.  

“Our job is to give [people] lots to see and lots to do,” Butt said at the Evergreen launch party on Nov. 21.