In past years, RRC Polytech’s Sustainability team and Alumni Engagement have hosted a daylong Winter Market featuring staff, student, and alumni makers to celebrate the holiday season and encourage buying local. It is one of our absolute favourite events!

While we’re thrilled to see in-person markets starting up again, RRC Polytech is not yet fully open to the public – so instead of an in-person market experience, we’ll once again be highlighting our awesome network of makers online.

Last year, in place of an in-person market, we created a maker directory – a compiled list of alumni, staff, and student makers who have participated in past Winter Markets – so we could continue to support these businesses during last year’s challenging holiday season.

This year, between December 1-16, we will be running a “12 Days of Holiday Shopping” campaign both internally for staff and students, and externally via social media, where we’ll be promoting a number of makers each day. We want to make sure we’re doing our part to elevate our makers and support local!

“When you buy local from small businesses and artisan makers, you’re supporting creative makers in our community and the local economy,” says Sara MacArthur, Director of Campus Planning and Sustainability at RRC Polytech.

“In a typical year at RRC Polytech, we’re able to host various farmers’ and maker markets to give our staff and students the opportunity to shop a little more consciously.  Even though we can’t host a physical market this year, we can still encourage everyone to buy local, and we hope that by sharing this list, we can help make your shopping experience more joyful and sustainable this year.”

Get Involved

We’re encouraging all alumni makers to get involved in this year’s 12 Days of Holiday Shopping campaign. If you would like to participate, apply to be part of our maker directory! Simply fill out this form, supply a photo of your products, and provide a link to your website or social pages so we can help promote your business to the RRC Polytech community. Apply no later than November 15 to be considered!

We also encourage you to follow the RRC Polytech and Sustainability accounts on Instagram, where we’ll be sharing makers you can support between December 1-16. 

Let’s support small business owners and shop local this season!