CALGARY -- A Calgary animal rescue agency staged a little slice of Christmas Wednesday in order to raise funds to save animals.

A November 11 Christmas market might sound a bit premature, but it's the major fundraiser for Rescue Friends Animal Foundation, a local Calgary non-profit group dedicated to animal rescue.

Board member and volunteer Hannah Willey said last year they had 800 visitors attend the one day, pet-friendly market. This year she hoped to see the same numbers because the group has a goal to raise $10,000.

No shortage of vendors

Despite the unusual circumstances surrounding this year's event, Willey said there’s been no shortage in finding vendors for the 2020 Christmas market.

“We have had to unfortunately had to turn some away,” said Willey. “We’ve had to space everybody out because of COVID-19 regulations. If we didn’t have that, we probably would have put in some more vendors in but rules are rules we have to follow them too.”

Colin Urquhart is the co-founder of TBB Deserts, a business that was launched in June which specialize in cheesecake. Urquhart has already attended a few Christmas markets and can’t believe how busy they’ve been.

The Rescue Friends Animal Foundation market isn’t as big but he said the cause was hard to resist.

“It’s smaller but it’s for a charity so it’s win some, lose some,” said Urquhart. “We love rescue animals, we have two rescues at home ourselves so we love supporting (the) foundation.”

Annika Lubert was there shopping with her dog Rossi. Lubert was seeking out Christmas markets this season to get gifts for family and friends.

“We are this year,” said Lubert. “Because of the pandemic and everything we’re trying to help local and shop local.”

Noel Christmas preparations underway

Preparations are underway for Noel Christmas at the BMO Centre at Stampede Park. The event runs from November 27 to January 3. This year over 100,000 square feet in Halls E and F will be transformed into a holiday wonderland, complete with over one million sparkling lights, live entertainment and festive food and drink.

Jonathan Houweling is the co-fonder and director of the event that is in its second year in Calgary. There are 60 vendors signed up for the market which features hand-picked craft artisans who offer quality handmade goods and gifts.

“It’s been remarkable the difference,” said Houweling. “How many vendors we’ve had reach out - hundreds - because of lack of opportunity for these people to sell their goods to make a living. Many markets have just not been running, are not going to be running this year and so we were overwhelmed with vendors.”

Houweling said one of his biggest challenges this year is making all the aisles between vendors one-way to make sure everyone has enough room to safely distance. He said the event would have been cancelled if it couldn’t be hosted safely.

“How do we communicate just how safe this event is, a structured event with all of our safety protocol in place and it’s been a delight to work with Alberta Health and the Stampede in order to make this a safe event for families,” said Houweling.

Learn more about the market here: www.noelchristmas.ca