For those who ventured beyond the food trucks and midway and made their way to Artisan Alley, they quickly realized there was a lot more to the popular lakefront festival than rides and midway games.
Just past the bright lights and whizzing rides, visitors to the popular weekend event also had the opportunity to peruse through more than 300 vendors and artisans selling a variety of different hand-crafted and unique items.
Marc Michaud was one of those vendors. Michaud, owner of Michaud Toys, has been travelling the more than 200 kilometres from Jarvis to Barrie for more than three decades to participate in the event to sell their unique line of traditional wooden board games.
“I clean up every year,” he joked when asked why he returned for 2022. “It’s one of our big events for the summer.”
With the amazing summer forecast, and the two year hiatus due to the pandemic, Michaud told BarrieToday he wasn’t surprised by the turnout one bit.
“Everyone is glad to be back, and I am happy to be back,” he said in between serving customers.
Despite the hot and sunny weather, business was steady for Midhurst-based business, Hipknitized, which sells hand-made knitted and crocheted items. The local small-business, noted co-owner Jason Hooper, has been a vendor at Kempenfest for 11 years, adding they were beyond excited to be back after a two year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I feel like there’s this differentiated buzz this year. People have been cooped up for so long and are excited to go out, interact and just talk with folks and shop again. I feel like there’s this differentiated buzz this year. People have been cooped up for so long and are excited to go out, interact and just talk with folks and shop again,” he said. “It’s been very, very busy which has been great. We throw a lot of colour into our booth and that really draws a lot of folks in. I think everyone who lives in Canada is a realist and knows winter is coming… it may not be coming right this second, but it will come eventually.
“I feel there’s a real excitement and a buzz, and there is just this really invigorating vibe just going through the festival.”
Newcomers Jeff and Nora Stevens, owners of Stevens Potter, were one of the first booths once you made your way into Artisan Alley, telling BarrieToday they hope to make Kempenfest a staple in their annual shows.
“We’ve been hearing about this show for years. We’ve always thought if we could work it out we’d try and come. It’s a fabulous show and we love the venue, it’s so beautiful,” she said. “There are just a lot of people here with smiles on their faces and happy to have those retail moments.”
