Dunvegan Fresh Air Market. Photo Credit: Historic Dunvegan Provincial Park Facebook page

By Shane Clausing

Dunvegan Fresh Air Market

Dunvegan Fresh Air Market moves online

Aug 3, 2020 | 5:00 AM

The annual Dunvegan Fresh Air Market is moving online for 2020 because of COVID-19.

“Unfortunately, Historic Dunvegan is closed to the public this summer because of COVID-19, so we’ve also cancelled our on-site special events and our programs, just to ensure visitor safety and staff safety,” explained Stephanie McLachlan, the Program Coordinator at Historic Dunvegan.

“We still really want to promote the artisans and craftspeople who usually are at our market, so we are going to be profiling them on our Facebook page instead of having everyone show up in person.”

The popular market normally takes place at the end of July or beginning of August and draws close to 2,000 people to its location each year.

McLachlan says interest for the online shop is picking up as the market draws near.

“Were not getting as many people signing up as we would’ve had for our physical market although, more and more (requests) are coming in each day. We’re certainly hearing there’s a lot of appreciation that we are at least getting something out there and still allowing craftspeople and artisans to promote what they’re doing.”

The Fresh Air Market will take place on the Facebook page from August 2-15. Each day an artist will get to showcase their work that is up for sale.

“Each vendor is providing us with information about their products and who they are. They’re also providing us with photos, so we’ll create a little profile with that information. Each day depending on how many vendors we get we’ll do one or maybe two vendors showcased each day.”

Direct purchasing for the products cannot be done directly through Historic Dunvegan,.Those interested in buying items will have to reach out to the artist or craftspeople directly.

McLachlan mentions while this year is different, there are lots of items to choose from.

“We get lots of jewelers coming out and (have) lots of soaps and bath products, we also have a couple of people who do cards and graphic arts. We do have clothing sometimes and home decor.”