The 1st Home Grown Market comes to life in West Kelowna

The very first Home Grown Market kicked off this morning, bringing Green Bay Bible Camp to life with plenty of local vendors and talent.

Owner of The Local Chemist specialty coffee company, Daniel Connolly, is the man behind the venture and he hopes that it will give some up and coming entrepreneurs a chance to share their passion and hard work.

Featuring everything from handmade body care, jewelry and cutting boards to homemade vegan baked goods and stellar vintage threads the market highlights the creations of a variety of local vendors.

While you shop you can also enjoy the musical stylings of local artists like Jesse Blashill and Adam Kern.

Modelled after the East Side Flea market in Vancouver, Connolly hopes to one day make his market a bi-weekly event, to offer shoppers a vast variety of vendors, and give the vendors a regular platform to grow their business.

“We wanted to approach [it] in a very respectful way because I know that when you start out a business it costs money,” said Connolly. “Having a very low vendor fee to pay for just the general costs, is something that we wanted to make sure was known, and that our heart was known, We are about supporting people.”

Timed purposefully to align with the upcoming day of love, Valentine’s Day, the vendors on site boast specially crafted gifts for your special someone. Highlights include adorable succulent creations from Stems & Stones to personalized vinyl 7” records with your own message and favourite song etched in by SleepOvers for Life.

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How do you tell someone you love them in this digital age? The answer is obviously record a message onto a 5inch vinyl record, put that record in a card, and send it snail mail.... duh. #sleepoversforlife Valentine-grams are $15. (This includes a 5” record with your message on it, a badass card and postage within Canada... if you’re outside of Canada, just shoot us a message.) . . #valentinesvinyl #recordcollection #handmade #oneoffgifts #digitalage #analogue #snailmail #handmadebc #homegrownkelowna #showyourlove

A post shared by Sleepovers for Life (@sleepoversforliferecords) on Feb 1, 2019 at 4:45pm PST

Shopping and supporting local businesses can sure work up an appetite and on site you can enjoy delicious treats from a number of food trucks like Little Fork, or a perk up from Pilgrim Coffee.

The market, which is free admission, is on at Green Bay Bible Camp in West Kelowna until 4 p.m. today with hopes of returning in the spring at a new location!