SOUNDS & FURIES presents

THE 20TH ANNUAL
WOMEN'S WINTER FAIRE

Friday, Saturday and Sunday
November 29, 30, December 1, 2013

Heritage Hall 3102 Main Street

BIG NEWS! It's our 20th Anniversary and to do it justice, we've added an extra day - Friday - day and evening!

The evening will consist of a CONCERT OF WOMEN'S MUSIC and a SELECT GROUP OF VENDORS! We can't say just at this point who will be performing but we can say we're busy working behind the scenes to make it an event to remember. Tickets to the concert will be available in the early fall.

If you don't want to miss out on this evening of song and seasonal sales then check back soon for updates, like us on facebook and/or join our email list. It will be the most amazing Women's Winter Faire yet and that is a hard record to beat!

Vendors registration: click Here

For the past 19 years, the Women's Winter Faire (formerly known as the Women's Winter Arts & Crafts Faire) has presented many of BC's talented women artisans and craftswomen. Over 50 booths of creative, funky, beautiful, ecologically-sound and diverse gifts await a hoard of loyal shoppers each year who converge on this popular event to shop, for sure, but also because.......it's such a social event! With an in-house cafe, background music and a vibrancy that rocks the hall, the beautiful Heritage Hall is transformed into a bustling village square, where friends meet, greet, eat and shop!!

The Women's Winter Faire is a curated show which creates community, and gives back to the community. Over the past 19 years, the door donation has raised over $95,000 for local and worldwide grassroots organizations who oftentimes have less than adequate funding resources. A list of recipient groups can be viewed at the bottom of this page. Volunteers help out at the Faire and become part of the team; in exchange, their organizations receive funds, a collaborative effort that works!

The Women's Winter Faire was launched in 1994 when Pat Hogan, co-founder of Sounds & Furies Productions, was urged by friends to do something "like they're doing in San Francisco" -- a HUGE women's annual market. And so she did...but not on the same scale! The original 'cast' of artisans were the same women (and more) who helped kick-off the newly-founded Sounds & Furies at the WISE Hall during Gay Games 1990. Many of these women later sold their works at Josephine's, an East Vancouver coffee house which Pat opened. They were/are a band of wild women, ready to jump on the traveling arts & crafts show!

DOOR DONATION: Each year we ask for a door donation of $3 - $5 to aid a local organization.

Over $95,000 has been raised since the inception of the Women's Winter Faire for these organizations:

• A Lovin Spoonful
• AIDS Vancouver
• Childhaven.ca
• Crabtree Corner Children's Program
• Chrysalis Recovery Homes for Women
• A Vancouver Women's Chorus
• Elizabeth Fry Society
• Not So Strictly Ballroom, Vancouver's only Lesbian and Gay Dance Organization
• L.E.G.I.T. (The Lesbian and Gay Immigration Task Force)
• Lookout Emergency Aid Society
• Nanaimo Foodshare
• Neil Falkner Outward Bound Memorial Scholarship
• Pride Education Network
• Out on Screen
• Occupy Sandy Recovery
• The Positive Women's Network
• Sisters in Sync-Vancouver's 1st lesbian dragonboat team
• Vancouver Folk Music Festival
• Vancouver Women's Health Collective
• Team Vancouver Athletic Society-the umbrella organization for gay sports teams competing in the Quadrennial Gay Games
• Theatre Terrific

At the Faire you can expect to find:

* Quality crafts and artwork

*One-of-a-kind items

*A wide range of gifts and prices

*Over 500 visitors daily

*An in-house cafe serving scrumptious food -- a haven for weary shoppers.

*A Social Event that offers more than shopping -- but that too!

Friendly vendors and staff

The annual Women's Winter Faire is all about bringing communities and friends together to celebrate and support women's creativity, art, businesses.

Quotes from Happy Participating Craftswomen and Fairegoers!

"Not like any other Faire I've been to; it's my first but not last visit!"

"This is my favorite event each year; I wouldn't miss it"

"I do 23 shows a year but this was one of the best organized, relaxed and well attended and friendly people willing to help each other. I WILL DO BOTH SHOWS NEXT YEAR." Maria

"I loved vendoring this craft market and knowing it is also contributing to a worthy organization is great. I found the quality of vendors to be the best I had seen... there was a real sense of camaraderie amongst the vendors and staff. My jewellery did really well and I got such positive feedback from people that inspired and encouraged me. Thank you." Irit Sorokin