Online shopping experience features deals, new products and artisan videos

The annual PA Wilds Makers Market virtual shopping event is back with a new date this year. Kick off the holiday shopping season on October 19 on the PA Wilds Marketplace at ShopThePAWilds.com, where you can purchase directly from Creative Makers in the region.

Designed to help you “find your next WILD thing,” this one day only event will give you a chance to learn more about artisans in the PA Wilds and find unique gifts for loved ones while skipping the long lines in store.

Curious how to participate? Simply tune into the event landing page at ShopThePAWilds.com/makers-market on October 19 to take advantage of the special deals and promotions. Visit the page now to review the special promotions that will be happening that day and sign up for email reminders when the deals go live!

Businesses and organizations in the Wilds Cooperative of PA (WCO) — a network of rural entrepreneurs from across the Pennsylvania Wilds — will be participating in the online showcase on Saturday, October 19. On that day, shoppers can learn about the artisans and entrepreneurs they are purchasing from by viewing interviews, demonstrations and studio tours showcasing their businesses and products.

“I look forward each year to this special event on ShopThePAWilds.com, which helps connect our talented Makers with customers looking to get ahead on their holiday shopping and find handmade, unique gifts for their friends and family. I continue to be amazed at the talented artists and entrepreneurs that the PA Wilds has and the creativity that comes out of the region. October 19th will be an amazing opportunity for everyone to learn about the PA Wilds artisans,” said Megan Steele, Marketplace Manager at the PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship, the nonprofit that manages the WCO and related programs for the PA Wilds region. “I’ve already started my shopping list and am excited for everyone to see the new products that will be available during the event!”

MEET THE PARTICIPATING BUSINESSES

• Artwork by Julie Mader: Paint the PA Wilds and Uncle Penn’s watercolor kit collections offer portable, obtainable, giftable opportunities to create, connected with the natural beauty of rural environments. New this holiday season, you can also send cheerful greetings to family and friends with prints of Julie’s art. The cards are accompanied by Green Seal Certified 100% PCW (Post Consumer Waste) recycled envelopes produced from Wind Power.
• Asaph Waters Editions: Carl Frederick Lawrenson grew up in Susquehanna, majoring in art education in college, and since spending his life painting nature scenes. Shop prints of his paintings or get 56-in-one coffee table book, which also features the stories behind them.
• Biscuit Authority: It matters where your pets’ treats and chews come from. That is why Laura put her heart and soul into sourcing ingredients right here in Pennsylvania. Biscuit Authority LLC was launched with the idea of bringing your pet the highest quality pet treats and chews from farm to pet!
• Brady Photography: Offering you more than just prints, Steve’s photography is an invitation to experience and share the beauty of the PA Wilds. Whether it’s through a fine art piece adorning your wall or a greeting card sent to a loved one, each image is an echo of the wilderness, meant to inspire and transform your living space into a gallery of natural wonder.
• Conklin Studio Pottery: Hand-sculpted items for garden and home are hand built from mid-high fire stoneware and porcelain clays and range from garden items such as toadstools and astrological symbols to magnets and figurines!
• DLE Designs: Made in Williamsport, PA, these handcrafted creations combine Don Luke’s love for wood and his desire for engraving into one.
• Elk & Walnut Creative Corner: Inspired by the PA Wilds and their families love for collecting souvenirs, Elk & Walnut Creative Corner creates one-of-a-kind souvenirs for locals and visitors.
• Goot Essa: Amish-made, handcrafted, artisanal cheese fresh from the farm in Howard, PA. Goot Essa, meaning “good food” or “good eating,” creates small-batch cheeses, fudge, jams, and honey for you to share with friends and family.
• Horner’s Pens: Rich Horner’s handcrafted pens make the perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for person on your shopping list. All pens come with a special gift box and an extra refill ink cartridge.
• Jillia Ceramics: These ceramic pieces reflect nature and life around us. Each piece is handmade and hand glazed. No molds, slip casting, extruders, or slab rollers are used in production, only a pottery wheel and two hands.
• Kevin Coolidge: Author of The Totally Ninja Racoons, Kevin created a series of PA Wilds based early chapter books, target audience first through fourth grade. Short chapters, humor, adventure, and one picture per chapter keep kids feeling a sense of engagement and accomplishment as they plow through these stories and ask for more!
• Moments in Time Studios: A portrait and fine art photographer living in the PA Wilds, Karen offers a variety of notecards featuring her photographs.
• Side Door Soaps & Sundry Co: Sensitive skin needs care and attention so Side Door Soaps handcrafts wholesome soap and a variety of personal care products to love your bodies with using plant oils that are sourced responsibly and processed as minimally as possible. Each ingredient is chosen for a specific purpose, no fillers here!
• Stephanie Distler Studios: A self-taught jewelry artist, Stephanie uses nature for inspiration. She designs and creates artisan jewelry with hand tools using silver, copper and brass in wire or sheet form.
• WildWood PA: John is a lifelong woodworker creating home decor made by the diverse lumber found in the Pennsylvania woodlands. It provides a wonderful source of material to work with: oaks, birch, maple, cherry, walnut, etc. These unique varieties can be challenging to work with, but their distinct characteristics allow for the creation of truly unique and stunning pieces. Each project is a journey, revealing the hidden beauty within the wood and transforming it into a timeless work of art.
• Yoga with Trees: Jenny Garrison’s book is her act of love to Mother Earth. It opens the window of trees as Beings. She has taught classes and given talks about the trees since writing “Yoga with Trees,” and is struck by the idea that for those of us who love the Earth, the Earth does indeed love us in return. Trees are evidence of that conviction.

To learn more, browse participating vendors and sales the day of Makers Market, and sign up for reminders about the event, visit: shopthepawilds.com/makers-market.

ABOUT THE PA WILDS MARKETPLACE

The PA Wilds Marketplace features products that have been handcrafted by artisans and craftspeople living and working in the Pennsylvania Wilds, a 13-county region known for its vast public lands, outdoor experiences, maker culture, and stewardship ethic.  These quality products celebrate the beauty, bounty and rural traditions of the PA Wilds, and you can too! Through this Marketplace, shoppers help sustain the region’s small businesses and rural communities.

ABOUT THE PA WILDS

The Pennsylvania Wilds is a 13-county region that includes the counties of Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, Lycoming, McKean, Potter, Tioga, Warren, and northern Centre. The PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship, Inc., is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to integrate conservation and economic development in a way that inspires the communities of the Pennsylvania Wilds. The PA Wilds Center promotes the region and its 2+ million acres of public lands as a premier outdoor recreation destination as a way to diversify local economies, inspire stewardship, attract investment, retain population and improve quality of life. The PA Wilds Center’s core programs seek to help businesses leverage the PA Wilds brand and connect with new market opportunities, including: the Wilds Cooperative of PA, a network of more than 640 place-based businesses and organizations, and the PA Wilds Conservation Shop, a retail outlet primarily featuring products sourced from the WCO. For more information on the PA Wilds Center, visit www.PAWildsCenter.org. To learn more about the WCO, visit www.WildsCoPA.org. Explore the PA Wilds at www.PAWilds.com. Find regionally made products at www.ShopThePAWilds.com.