Rene Trim's Arts & Crafts: Vibrant! and more craft events this weekend

** Shows, Markets and Festivals this weekend: ** ** Vibrant! ** Well, after nearly 6 months of planning, going over vendor applications, designing posters, advertisements and other promotional material, creating a buzz on social media, making a floor plan, handing out postcards - and at least a hundred other things I will leave out for the sake of convenience – the moment is finally here: “Vibrant!”, the OVCC’s 8th artisans’ market will be held this weekend from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street.

The market will feature 85 local artists and artisans each day (some will be there both days, some only one) – please visit http://www.ovccshow.com for the full list of vendors - in a wide variety of disciplines and styles, ranging from medieval and traditional to steampunk and geek. Hot and cold lunches and beverages will be available, parking is free, the site is fully-accessible, and the admission is $2. You will undoubtedly agree that the Ottawa Valley/Outaouais region has an exceptional wealth of artistic talent, and it has been conveniently gathered into one venue for you to discover and delight your senses.  We enjoyed putting together what we think is our best line-up to date and we hope that you, the visitor, will enjoy it just as much! ** Elsewhere in town this weekend: **

•  The Capital Artisans Guild will be holding its spring event at Sir Wilfrid Laurier High School (Sat. & Sun. - 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily)

•  The Navan Fine Arts Exhibition welcomes you at the Navan Curling Club (1305 Fairgreen Ave., Navan) – also Sat. & Sun. from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

• The very first Crafty QE Craft Fair is held at Queen Elizabeth School (689 St. Laurent Blvd) on Sat. from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

• It’s Maple Festival at the Ottawa Farmers’ Market in the Aberdeen Pavilion at Landsdowne Park, Sun. from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

That’s it for now, folks, have a creative weekend and don’t forget to support local! ** An Update on Etsy’s IPO ** Etsy’s initial stock market success has surprised everyone. Its shares opened at $31 on April 16, the day the company made its Nasdaq debut, and climbed above $35 during the day, more than double the firm’s initial public offering (IPO) price of $16. Although its stock price has since declined to around $25, the New-York based start-up is showing resilience – not bad for an e-commerce platform that so far hasn’t posted a profit.

Since its inception a decade ago, the firm has built a solid base of over 1 million active sellers and close to 20 million buyers. According to the company, it reached just shy of $2 billion in gross sales last year, with buyers or sellers in nearly every country across the globe. On the day it went public, Etsy sold more than 13 million shares, raising $267 million.