Hundreds of vendors are selling their wares to thousands of people this weekend at Vernon's 50th annual Creative Chaos Festival.
The festival got underway Friday, June 6 and is on until Sunday at the Vernon Recreation Complex, with booths spread throughout the auditorium, Dogwood Gym, Priest Valley Arena and Vernon Curling Club.
The half-centennial event featured 226 vendors selling a wide array of products, including crafts, jewellery, board games, food, art and much more.
Creative Chaos draws vendors from all over B.C. and beyond.
Wood artist Jorge Izaza, from Salt Spring Island, B.C., was selling his unique sculptural wooden lamps in his second year at Creative Chaos.
In the beginning Izaza was making differently shaped sculptures. One day he made a hole. Then, to make his piece functional, he put a ring of light into it. The result was a lamp that to his eye resembled a portal.
"It was a game-changer for me because I added a use to my piece of art," he said.
How does he make the lamps? "Long story short, with a lot of love and sanding paper," he said.
Izaza had a busy day of selling lamps Friday and said he's had record sales so far.
"My first year here was awesome, and that's why I decided to come back and chose a bigger booth," he said.
Izaza thanked the Creative Chaos organizers and the people of Vernon who have offered "beautiful words" about his pieces.
Many vendors have been coming to Creative Chaos much longer than a couple years.
Kim Lampman has been a Creative Chaos vendor for 30 years. The owner of Kimi Designs was selling her handcrafted jewellery with great success.
"Sales have been great, the crowds have been awesome," she said.
Lampman is from the coast, and asked why it's worthwhile for her to make the trip to Vernon to sell her jewellery, she said it's all about the people who come faithfully back to Creative Chaos.
"And it's a variety of crafts as opposed to what I get on the coast," she added. "I'm in a new area where I have customers that have been with me for 30 years."
The first day of Creative Chaos wrapped up at 7 p.m. Friday. Its Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday's hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission to the festival is free through either a cash donation or the donation of a non-perishable food item to the Salvation Army Food Bank.
