Over a dozen local businesses gathered on Thursday night at the East End Market. There were two markets last year and this is the first one of 2022. At this year's market, all of the table proceeds went to the Portage Ukrainian Nursery School. The goal was to bring the community together, one of the organizers Chelsea Lewis mentions that a lot of late nights were put into planning this event.
"We tried to think about the best way to support all of the local businesses and vendors."
She notes the support is one of the main things that motivates them to keep doing East End Markets.
"Each market gets bigger and bigger as the years go on and the word gets out," Lewis continues. "We are so appreciative of the community that we have here, especially in the east end."
Oxbow Candle Co. is one of the home based businesses at the market. Dana Young notes how amazing it is to be a part of the local maker community.
"The turnout has been amazing so far, it's really nice to see all of the traffic come through," she continues. "It's really hard to sell a scented product online it's really nice to be able to see people be able to come and see and smell the products before you buy them."
The candle maker also talks about how being able to come to a market takes a lot of prep work.
"I've been making candles for 10 years now but just started selling this past year. It is a lot of testing, it's a combination of science and art. The biggest thing is that it takes time to make our product. Market prep is actually a month-long process to get everything ready."
Throughout the event they also had live music from Ed and Rhea Goertzen. The plans are in the works to hopefully have another market later this year, with proceeds going towards a whole new local charity.