Another successful Blyth Friday is in the books
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
A few years ago, in response to the consumerist cacophony that is “Black Friday”, the little village of Blyth put together a unique, evening shopping event that encourages go-getting gift-getters to eschew the bland battleground of the big box stores in favour of something a little more local.
Blyth Friday has grown a lot since then; it’s still the perfect place to pick up that one-of-a-kind present, but it’s also become a genuine community celebration and unofficial kick-off to the holiday season.
This year, the sprawling event was packed with family-friendly activities - tree decorating at Memorial Hall, dance lessons, buskers, cookies, a business-based scavenger hunt, a multi-room holiday night market, delicious samples of Indian food, a chance to contribute to a community art quilt, fire truck touching and more!
Shoppers hopped from store to store, eventually ending up at the lower floor of Memorial Hall, which had been transformed into the holiday market for the evening. A coterie of local artisans was there with their various wares, which ran the gamut from traditional Christmas ornaments to melted vinyl records to bespoke soap.
Market organizer Kelly Stevenson of the Blyth Festival Art Gallery is quite happy with the team effort that brought the event together. “We’re so thankful to all our vendors, our busker and the gallery and community volunteers and organizations who helped us during the holiday night market,” she explained. “Events and community-minded programming would not be possible without them or without our wonderful community who comes out to these events.”
In her opinion, Blyth Friday is such a successful event because it benefits everybody involved. “Since we started participating in Blyth Friday three years ago, I’ve heard from people who had never been in the Blyth Festival Art Gallery before, or didn’t even realize it was there, but after being introduced to the space and the committee through the holiday night markets, they have become repeat visitors throughout the rest of the year. And that’s huge. We don’t do the market as a money maker, but as a form of community outreach.”
This year’s Blyth Friday also marked Stevenson’s launch of an art project that she’s inviting the whole town to get in on. All you need to do is acquire one of her canvas squares, draw something that matters to you, and she’ll add it to her ever-growing art quilt, which will be featured in the gallery’s 2025 Community Show. “It will bring together panels done by community members of all types, ages and skill levels showing what belonging, home and community mean to them,” she explained. “We were thrilled by the number of people who have contributed so far and will be planning for there to be more opportunities to do so - watch the Gallery’s social media for when and how you can participate.”