Online shopping experience features deals, new products and artisan stories

Each year, the PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship kicks off the holiday shopping season with the Pennsylvania Wilds Makers Market to showcase creative, artisan products from local Makers. This 24-hour event takes place online on the PA Wilds Marketplace, Shop.PAWilds.com, where customers shop directly from the original maker, photographer, painter, designer or artist.

This year, the PA Wilds Makers Market will take place on October 25th from 12:00 am to 11:59 pm EST with 19 participating Makers who are offering deals, new products, free USA shipping, free gifts with purchase, and more! 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.

To participate, sign up now for email reminders on Shop.PAWilds.com/Makers-Market so you don’t miss out on the limited-time event. On October 25th, simply tune in 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 build your wishlist!

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 this Saturday, October 25. On Saturday, shoppers can learn about the artisans and entrepreneurs they are purchasing from by viewing blog posts, interviews, demonstrations and studio tours showcasing their businesses and products.

“The PA Wilds Makers Market is one of the best opportunities each year to connect our Makers with customers who are looking to support the region, the artists, and find holiday gifts that are unique, creative, and standout. Our goal is to make it easier for shoppers to know the name, face, and story of the artists they support with their purchase,” says 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. A portion of each purchase on Shop.PAWilds.com also goes back to the work of the Pennsylvania Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship.

MEET THE PARTICIPATING BUSINESSES

• Allegheny Nesting: Jill Forquer is a homesteader and entrepreneur who creates seasonal home decor, handmade goat milk soap, engraved charcuterie boards , dough bowl candles and wooden jewelry.
• Artwork by Julie Mader: Send cheerful greetings to family and friends with prints of Julie’s art. Julie’s holiday greeting cards are accompanied by Green Seal Certified 100% PCW (Post Consumer Waste) recycled envelopes produced from Wind Power. New this year, Julie is also showcasing art prints and postcards.
• 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 on canvas or get a 56-in-one coffee table book that features the stories behind each painting.
• 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!
• 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.
• Ellen Matis: Ellen’s new children’s book, Ellie Mae Explores: Hometown, is launching and will come with a free bookmark and coloring page. Hometown is the first book in the Ellie Mae Explores series, a heartwarming celebration of community, belonging, and the places that shape us.
• Ellen Paquette Art: Ellen is afine art painter specializing in animal portraits, primarily endangered species, and creating whimsical soft sculpture creatures inspired by the natural world, mythology and folklore. This year, you can also purchase her prints on adventure totes.
• Highland Chocolates: Let Highland Chocolates be your source for irresistibly sweet snacks and premium chocolate gifts for all occasions. Owned and operated by Partners In Progress, Inc, Highland Chocolates empowers people with disabilities to succeed.
• 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.
• 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!
• OneTen The Studio: Kelsey Kleiner is a type designer and creative director with a love for building brand identities from the letterform up. As a new seller on the marketplace this year, Kelsey has a variety of products that feature her designs.
• PA Wilds Conservation Shops: Our conservation shops feature products made in the PA Wilds by local artisans and craftspeople. Conservation Shops help connect PA Wilds travelers with locally made products. They not only create a consistent experience on the ground, but you can easily find them here on the Marketplace, too!
• Pheasant Tail Design Co: Jeff Keiser started Pheasant Tail Design Co with the goal to provide quality, affordable and fun custom fly rods to people of all skill levels. As a new seller on the marketplace, Jeff hopes to provide a lot of what you need to have a great day fly fishing one of the many quality trout streams in Pennsylvania.
• 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!
• The Wild Botanica: A nature-lover, soapmaker, and an entrepreneur, Rebecca offers safe and natural bath products to the wild folks of the PA Wilds with the goal to give back to local and global communities and to impact conservation awareness one day.
• Village Eatinghouse: Village Eatinghouse creates dressings and marinades to equip and inspire customers to simply create delicious food. Creators Clay and Melanie want to take the uncertainty out of food preparation and inspire creativity in the kitchen!
• 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: shop.pawilds.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 700 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 and the WCO, visit PAWildsCenter.org. To learn more about the WCO, visit www.Members.PAWildsCenter.org. Explore the PA Wilds at PAWilds.com. Find regionally made products at Shop.PAWilds.com.