For over a decade, Crafty Vintage has been one of the North West’s leading craft, food and vintage fair organisers. With a loyal visitor following, curated stallholders and carefully selected market venues, each of their events make for a memorable day out.
They have hosted events in castles, towers and old mills; prestigious and stunning locations which showcase local makers and ensure every visitor has a brilliant time. With live entertainment often provided including live music, magic shows, circus entertainers and theatrics, Crafty Vintage provide social places for people to meet and be inspired.
Their wide array of stallholders is also worth stopping by for, with every type of artisan you can imagine and a curated choice of local stallholders.
We thought it high time we asked the organisers what actually makes their markets so special…
A Q&A with Crafty Vintage
How long have Crafty Vintage markets been running?
Our adventure began 15 years ago, by booking the local Church Hall in Whalley. We plastered posters and leaflets all around Lancashire, and the phone soon started ringing with exhibitors wanting to book in for the launch event. It was all hands on deck for the opening day, as bunting was strewn across from lamppost to lamppost and trays of cupcakes went in the oven! Back then before opening, we’d have been happy with 50-100 people turning up – but it was absolutely off the scale, with thousands of folk attending and many exhibitors totally selling out!
Whalley Artisan has now grown into something else entirely – click here to see current details.
After that first Whalley market, we needed a bigger Lancashire venue. Luckily, at the same time a world-class floating nature reserve had just opened at Brockholes – so we took up residence, rapidly growing and adding more content such as our award-winning cocktail bar, cabaret shows, DJs and lots of family-friendly entertainment.
Check out the video below!
What is your newest market, and what is special about it?
We are actually launching two brand new locations this Winter!
- Crow Wood Hotel and Spa is a brand new 5* complex near Burnley. The facilities there are simply amazing and having done many outdoor Christmas markets in freezing blizzards and storms, it’ll be a delight to be warm and cosy indoors – and no doubt we’ll see very strong sales for our exhibitors.
- The Festival de Noel is our latest concept and will launch this winter at Waddow Hall in the beautiful Ribble Valley countryside. It’s a country estate owned by The Girl Guides Association. We’re programming a really strong line up of family entertainment, along with a carefully curated collection of traders. Click here for more.
We’re also pushing out the ‘Shop Local’ mantra again this Christmas, to remind folk to support independent traders when buying gifts, rather than visting supermarkets or clicking on Amazon.
What is your favourite market that you’ve ever run?
We’ve been blessed to work at some amazing locations over the years, alongside some wonderful people. However, the event that slightly edges it over the others would be our event at Lowther Castle in The Lake District. The Castle up there is off the scale – it’s so beautiful – and provided an epic background to the market. We did a late night secret cinema, featuring an immersive cast, and overnight too. It was all captured on a Channel 5 documentary!
What makes your markets unique?
Firstly, we create a unique retail environment in which independent makers, creators and start-ups can flourish. Secondly, it’s a fun day out for the whole family, with an eclectic mixture of content and culture and lots of entertainment provided, as well as the great shopping opportunities. We provide excellent value to both traders and our visitor guests.
Hope to see you soon! Click here to find Crafty Vintage’s events on Pedddle.