Market brings exposure to home-based businesses

A Black Diamond entrepreneur kick-starting her home-based gluten-free baking business hopes a community market will provide a sizeable helping of much-needed awareness.

With the help of Ruth Goodwin, a trustee with the Sheep River Library board, Dawn Sharkey aims to bring more attention to home-based businesses in the area through the Diamond Valley Market.

The market, which is free to attend, will take place the first Saturday in October to May, with the exception of January, in the Sheep River Library from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“It creates a venue for us so people know we are here and people can shop locally,” said Sharkey. “They are unaware what’s in our backyard sometimes. It’s by word of mouth, especially in small communities.”

Seventeen vendors have signed up so far and there is the capacity to double that number, said Sharkey.

Businesses displaying at this weekend’s market include crafters, artists, photographers, bakers and skin care and clothing merchants, she said.

“It’s just getting your product out there and letting them know you are there,” she said. “People are more likely to support someone who is local than having to drive to the city and having to find something if they already know it’s there.”

Sharkey said the Diamond Valley Market is the start of getting the word out about her own products.

She spearheaded the home-based business due to her own gluten allergies.

“It’s really hard to find gluten-free products,” she said. “Every month or so you hear someone else popping up in one of my children’s classes or a family member that all of a sudden they can’t eat gluten anymore.”

Sharkey is starting by selling prepared baked goods and will determine which items are more popular with the intention of selling the packaged ingredients in stores and from her home.

Among those items she’ll sell at the market are cookies, cinnamon buns and muffins.

“If I’m making them I’ll have them and I’m helping other people, too,” she said. “It’s a remote area so we don’t have the option that you do in the city.”

Having the market on Saturday should result in more interest, she said.

“It’s very personable getting to know who you are buying from,” she said. “It’s just a chance to get out and socialize and be a part of the community.”

Sharkey said it’s important for the Sheep River Library to be open during the market as it will bring attention to the facility.

In addition, the $30 vendors pay to rent a table will go towards library programs, said Goodwin

“The library is always making sure funding goes towards something that enhances what we’re doing,” she said.

Projects that have benefitted from fundraising include guest speakers, author talks and movie events during the Foothills School Division’s professional development days.

Goodwin said one of the mandates of the Sheep River Library Board is to facilitate partnerships in the region.

“It benefits community right across the board,” she said. “It just helps to build a healthier community.”

Goodwin said the Sheep River Library Board is meeting that mandate with home-based businesses through the monthly Diamond Valley Market.

“It’s providing a venue for home-based businesses within the area to showcase their wares,” she said. “There is a lot of struggling entrepreneurs out there that are interested in just being known. That’s what it’s for, it’s not big business it’s not competing with anyone out there established on Main Street.”

The Black Diamond business owner said the market could also open up partnerships between merchants and home-based businesses, artists and crafters.

“What sometimes happens at these types of markets is some of the different businesses within the two towns may come and decide they would like to partner up with these home-based businesses,” she said. “It’s the dynamic synergy that it’s building within the community by people just being aware of what’s out there.”

Vendors interested in renting a table at the Diamond Valley Market can contact Dawn Sharkey at 587-228-9385.