Kootenay Outdoor Recreation Enterprise (KORE) has received a grant from Shop Local B.C (Canada) to showcase the Kootenays’ outdoor recreation craft makers and designers at a Maker’s Market in Kimberley on February 12.
According to a report, the Maker’s Market is a one-day event in the downtown platzl of Kimberley. It will include over a dozen makers from the Kootenay region involved in the snow sports and outdoor industries.
The event will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission will be free. Live entertainment, including local band Leather Apron Revival, is expected to help create an atmosphere of fun throughout the day.
The main goal of the event and the media campaign are to stimulate the local consumer culture to learn more about outdoor products produced locally in the Kootenays and make purchases locally.
The Shop Local BC media campaign focused on the Kootenays will be created through the Mountain Culture Group, the creative agency behind Kootenay Mountain Culture Magazine.
It will include photos of every member of the KORE collective to create a repository of images that they can use and for KORE to utilize in perpetuity.
The campaign, which is scheduled to be launched at the beginning of 2022, will contain videos from each maker and include additional online articles, ads, and social media content.
The program is funded by the Government of Canada’s Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development and distributed through provincial and territorial chambers of commerce. The Shop Local initiative offers grants for campaigns and programs which encourage Canadians to shop locally to help businesses navigate across through and beyond the epidemic.
The BC Chamber of Commerce is responsible for implementing the Shop Local initiative in British Columbia and is ensuring this program’s inclusiveness and funds are distributed equally across seven economic development regions.
KORE is an economic diversification and development initiative managed through the Kootenay Outdoor Recreation Society located in Kimberley.
It is an association of outdoor recreation gear manufacturers and designers from the Kootenays. It has created a community of more than 50+ craft gear designers and makers who have started organically production manufacturing and design within the Kootenays.
KORE’s goal is to encourage expansion within the alliance by collaboration, education, and linking businesses with resources, grants, capital, and financing, and to draw outdoor recreation products manufacturing and designers to the region, either to relocate or help facilitate new entrepreneurial start-ups.