Halifax Convention Centre hosts ‘welcome weekend’ in big return since 2020

The Halifax Convention Centre hosted its first ‘Welcome Weekend’ event since the COVID-19 pandemic. It allowed vendors to sell their products at a large venue for the first time since lockdown restrictions were implemented in Nova Scotia.

The venue celebrated its five years with cake, music and local vendors from the Halifax area.

Many of the vendors that did set up shop were happy to be returning to selling their crafts at a large event.

Liza Hageraats, an eco-friendly textile printer, relies on craft shows to sell her work, but during the pandemic, she was unable to do that.

“I don’t have a store or an online presence for selling things,” said Hageraats.

When the pandemic hit the province of Nova Scotia, closures affected many people, including artisans like Hageraats.

Throughout the pandemic, she worked on her craft. She created many items that were sitting in her workshop at home.

“Anything that’s handmade needs to be seen and touched because everything is one of a kind and it’s not something that you could go on a website and say, ‘I like that one,’ because it won’t be available when you go to purchase it,” she explained.

The welcome weekend is the first large craft show where Hageraats has been able to sell her product. It’s an opportunity she’s been looking forward to.

“I love meeting people and I love talking to people about my work, so not being able to do that it’s hard.”

Seven other vendors set up shop at the venue, selling various products with some even showcasing their art work.

Craft Nova Scotia’s special project and events coordinator Ashley Marlin said crafters are staples of the community and need support.

“These are our small business community. They’re buying local themselves, they’re local themselves, they’re creating local, and they’re supporting our local economy. When you spend your money here, your money is staying in Nova Scotia.”

While COVID-19 hit many businesses’ bottom line, Marlin said local crafters were impacted even harder.

“Artisans were definitely hit the hardest with COVID-19, just because as the reopenings were happening, they were unfortunately the last one the list.”

In order to support local businesses, the Halifax Convention Centre will have craft pop-up shops for every event it hosts this year.