It was a full house at Rotary St-Anselme Park in Dieppe, N.B., on Saturday for the first Alex Bazaar event. The one-day market gave customers access to products from around the world while supporting local businesses.
Two rooms were filled with 20 vendors from countries like Egypt, Algeria, Syria, India and Morocco who now call Canada home.
Fatima Hassan helped organize the Bazaar. She said it was a tiny idea she shared with another organizer that grew into something big.
“We were thinking about how we could get all the community together under one roof and getting a lot of stuff that we barely can see in the store here in Moncton,” said Hassan.
“We need to see the stuff that we used to buy back home.”
Hassan said there is a big push to support local in Canada right now and the event drew a steady stream of people from all ages and cultures who were looking for a taste of home or a whole new experience.
“You’re going to see all the cooks here, all of them women by the way,” Hassan said. “We’re supporting women’s small business, but all of them get all the ingredients from here, from down here, from Moncton, so it’s a completely local business. We will support them and keep supporting forever.”
Fatima Takhi was cooking food from her home country, Algeria, on Saturday.
“Algeria is not a touristic culture, but it’s a beautiful country and no one knows about it and I would really love to represent my country and represent what I do and how we celebrate things,” Takhi said.
“We celebrate things with food.”
Takhi moved to Canada 15-years-ago. Her children were all born in Canada but she said she wants them to know their roots and that’s why she wants to share Algerian food with a broader audience.
“I think it’s really important,” Takhi said. “I love Egypt, I love Indian food and it’s really important to try something new, do something new, meet new people, new tradition, new culture, that’s really important because now I think Moncton is becoming multicultural city.”
Laura Maselli said she attended the Alex Bazaar on Saturday to shop the unique products and support local.
“We picked up a very unique cologne that is made with essential oils,” Maselli said.
“It helps everyone. Canada made, we should be promoting it because of exactly what’s happening nowadays.”
Another shopper Sonya Ait Kheddache said the Bazaar gave her access to items that can be hard to find.
“Everything here is Halal and I can find also some scarfs,” Kheddache said.
“You can’t find it here usually in Moncton, there is no big community and even the food, I wanted to support our community.”
Hassan says she hopes to host more Bazaar’s in the future with more vendors.
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