The Marché des Artisanats Dunham is celebrating its fifth anniversary April 22 with a community event. 

Michilynn Dubeau started the arts and crafts market when she moved back to the area from Alberta. She joined the Women's Institute where she quickly noticed the inconvenience that many women had in lugging their boxes of art, crafts, and products back and forth to the different  summer markets. Seeing women stand on their feet all day long in the heat and rain, she recognized a need for a year-round indoor market where these women could display and sell their work, and where the community can discover and support their local artisans. 

Five years later, with many amateur and professional artisans come and gone, the doors to the Marché des Artisanats Dunham will remain wide open and keep the creativity flowing. 

“It’s really incredible. I can’t believe five years have gone by already. We had so many problems with Covid and because we had a door that opens up externally, we were able to open during Covid. We just kept on going and here we are five years later,” said Dubeau. “We’ve had so many artisans here and many clients, it’s been a really good five years.”

The Marché des Artisanats Dunham had its grand opening in April 2018. The artisans have something to offer to everyone, including handmade soaps, wallets, bags, scarfs, woodwork, jewelry, rugs, and more.

“Some of our artisans that were there at that time are still here but we usually have a change, people come and go. We have two floors and people go upstairs and downstairs. There’s always something new and exciting,” mentioned Dubeau. 

Dubeau expressed that this weekend's event is about showing people in Dunham "how to have fun" while celebrating the milestone. Many of the artisans will be present to chat with visitors. 

“For kids we are going to have a bean bag toss game on the veranda. On the veranda we’re going have coffee, tea, and snacks for our visitors. We are going to have a big cake, that will be inside, and we are going to have food all day,” she noted.

There will also be some prizes to be won. 

“We have tiny Easter egg shells, the plastic ones, inside 15 of those are going to be a little piece of paper. It’s either going to say ‘thank you, have a nice day’ or it’s going to say ‘you’re a prize winner.’ Our number one prize is a $100 gift certificate for the Marché,” mentioned Dubeau. “We have three bottles of beer from Brasserie Dunham. There are three specialty bottles so that will be quite nice. Different artisans have donated prizes as well. There will be lots of prizes, lots of fun, and lots of food.”

Five years after starting her venture, Dubeau hopes to carry on her mission with the Marché des Artisanats Dunham for as long as possible. 

“I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of our artisans and all of the people that have come through our doors over the last five years,” she said.

The event will be taking place this Saturday from 10 a.m. to  5 p.m. at 3786 rue Principale, Dunham. 

For more information about the Marché des Artisanats Dunham, visit the Facebook page or call 450-295-2292.

Listen to the full interview below: