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Spring Thing with flair

This weekend’s arts and crafts fair was a Spring Thing with flair.
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Melissa Fowler of Knickknacks works on one of her unique, hand-painted signs amid the display of her crafts at the Penticton Arts Council’s Spring Thing arts and crafts fair at the Leir House Sunday. Mark Brett/Western News

This weekend’s arts and crafts fair was a Spring Thing with flair.

And according to vice president Laurel Burnham of the Penticton Arts Council, it was a perfect time for local artisans to showcase themselves after a very long winter.

“It’s spring, and it’s important to shake the cobwebs out and open the doors and invite people to come in and share what we have,” said Burnham amid the background music of Summerland’s Bruce Flett. “It’s our little welcome to spring and we do it because we have a lot to celebrate and support and acknowledge.

“We have a wonderful, expansive creative community, people who are interested in taking their creative abilities and translating them into some kinds of means of supporting themselves and it’s really important to recognize that and support that in whatever way we can in this lovely venue.”

A wide variety of exhibitioners ranging from painters to musicians set up shop in the many rooms of Leir House Cultural Centre to show off their wares.

“I think the public likes it, there’s a very positive, long-term relationship to Leir House that the community has and has a great fondness for this place,” said Burnham.

Among the participating artists was Petra Holler, who draws, paints and writes poetry and came back to Penticton in 2016 after three years at university in Montreal.

“I love it here,” she said. “Penticton is one of the strongest arts-supporting communities that I’ve encountered, especially when you compare it to someplace like Kelowna, down here it’s a lot richer, a lot more supportive and a lot easier to access.”