By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
Four years ago, Cherry Bomb Toys started The Nerdy Days of Christmas Craft Fair to help holiday shoppers in Victoria, BC to find something unique for those hard to shop for geeks in the family. This event has certainly grown. As for what will happen for year five, a milestone, only time and what the organizers have in mind to celebrate will tell. This event continues through to Sunday, Dec 3rd until 4pm.
Market Square is hosting and they provided two spaces to spread the fun. When considering how brisk the weather can get in this city at this time of year, being indoors is preferable. Approximately 25 vendors will be present, spread out between the two days and the two spaces. There’s even a silent auction with a pair of comic books I was very tempted to bid on.
The vendors were in one room and the area is easy to travel. Long time residents of this city will like the fact this unit was where the comic book store Island Fantasy once operated from. The variety even included leathercraft, unique pieces of jewelry and sadly no Cthulhu. Pokemon related goods were in abundance, and I was amused to hear from one craftsperson that she should have considered including Zelda related merchandise. I was wearing a toque with the Tri-force Bird logo emblazoned on it.
Yes, I’m one of those super hard to give gifts to person since I have nearly everything I could want already. To shop for myself is even difficult. I visit these craft fairs on the possibility I may stumble across a How to Train Your Dragon piece that no mass merchandiser considered making. Yes, I want a beanie with the Nightfury logo, or I wear a Toothless on my head.
By visiting these shows (in any city), folks can find one of a kind’s to please. From bath bombs, unique artist sketches (or peg builds), the home will look a lot more interesting than to sport yet another product from Toys R Us. Plus, there’s Yoda … er, soda — at least for this local event, Phillips Soda Works had their full range of product to sell to thirsty shoppers. When considering I love their Godzilla themed Sparkmouth ginger ale, yes, I’m sold.
Santa made a visit for kids looking for a photo ops and Capital City Comic Convention had a table answering questions and selling passes for their event March 18, 2018. The Victoria LEGO Users Group had their winter themed display and yes, there was bacon.
Not to replace Empire Donuts (they were suspiciously missing on Saturday), Baconbuds was front and center for this year. This new operation begun late Summer and if they had samples, it’s a safe bet they would have not enough product to sell. They offer maple cinnamon dip and source the product from Red Barn Market, well-known for supplying the best bacon in this city.
Although I did not buy any product on Saturday, I will be back on Sunday for the simple reason of just talking about bacon is making me hungry. I can’t pass their offer up and I need to find out if the orders are cooked on the spot and how the product is kept warm when they are vending at this event and other craft fairs leading up to the end of month celebration. Usually, orders have to be made at a kitchen, so the curiousity has the better of me.
