The Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute’s first ever Harbourside Market tomorrow afternoon promises a little something for the creative gift-giver in us all, from jewellery and holiday ornaments to home-made bath products.

The arts and crafts fair will feature close to 40 local vendors, including Mary Walker, Heidi Cowen, Sharon Wilson, Helen Gardner, Graham Foster and Stephen West, among many others. It will be taking place at BUEI from 10am until 4pm.

Part proceeds from the event will go towards BUEI’s ‘Education is Key’ campaign, which will help underwrite the cost it takes to run its education programmes.

“We were looking at creative ways to fundraise at BUEI and because we also have this great facility here we thought it would make sense to hold an event like this, especially before Christmas, and something geared towards adults,” said Belinda Barbieri, the marketing manager at BUEI.

“We usually host Christmas By The Harbour, a pre-holiday event more geared towards children. But with this market we are hoping adults will take advantage of the free child care and really take their time and see what’s out there.

“Myself I have three young children and the thought of shopping is sometimes horrific because we think of little hands grabbing things, so this takes the pressure off. There will be little elves taking care of the kids as they watch movies, take part in arts and crafts activities and listen to book readings. These things will be going on while the parents are shopping.”

Santa will also be paying a visit to the holiday market and will be on hand tomorrow from 11.30am until 1.30pm to take pictures with young people. There will be free gift wrapping on offer throughout the day, as well as baked goods, soup and product samples from Burrows & Lightbourne on offer.

To add to the merriment of the season, the cast from the upcoming pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, will be offering a sneak preview of the show at 1pm. While the Mount Saint Agnes Choir will be stopping by to sing Christmas Carols at 11am.

Jewellery designer Mary Walker will be one of many artists selling goods at the event. This will be her publicly for the first time in many years, after taking a hiatus from making jewellery due to health reasons.

For 15 years, she created and sold unique fashion creations at her shop Lote Tree Jewels in the Walker Arcade.

She took up the hobby again after her husband sailing legend Jordy Walker passed away. And said she was “overjoyed” to be able to share some of her pieces with a new audience.

“Making earrings is really my passion so I will have a lot of my own designs in earrings available on Saturday,” she said.

“I also have my glass and semi-precious beaded necklaces and other interesting and unusual things like Masai jewellery from tribes in Kenya, Moroccan necklaces and other ethnic pieces.

“I have done some travelling over the years and when I travel I try to pick up things. My daughter lives in Beijing, China so when I am over there I scoured their markets and found some nice pieces of Chinese silver and semi-precious beads.”

Mrs Walker said the vendor’s market was a great opportunity for local artists to showcase their skills and talents to a larger audience.

Her goods will be on display tomorrow on the Mezzanine Level of BUEI.

Sundee Faulkner, of Bermuda Clayworks, will also be on hand at tomorrow’s art and craft show selling her popular ceramic house signs.

She will also have a selection of goods from other Clayworks artists, including John Faulkner’s Bellarmine works, Nautilus shell bowls and salt glazed ceramic mugs; as well as some handmade stoneware shell motif bowls from artist Aubrey Hardy.

Ms Faulkner said she doesn’t typically participate in such events, but she wanted to introduce their professional crafts to people who don’t normally have the chance to venture to Dockyard.

“I live on a boat so marine ecology is important to me and part of why I signed up was because it was BUEI who was putting on the event,” she said.

“The other reason is because I felt it would draw local customers, which is who we aim to get our goods to. Because we are in Dockyard because think we just cater to cruise ship passengers, but when residents actually take the time to come to us they are usually surprised by the quality of our work.

“We only have professional crafts people, and it’s not a hobby, so the level of work here is really phenomenal.”

Although it is a cash-only event, she said they can accept card payments for people making customised orders. People can also order goods today from the studio’s website www.bermudaclayworks.com and pick their items up from the BUEI tomorrow.

The inaugural Harbourside Market will be taking place tomorrow at BUEI from 10am until 4pm. For more information, call 294-0204 or e-mail info@buei.org

Sponsors include: Bermuda Blueprinting, BMDS, Burrows & Lightbourn, Butterfield & Vallis, Harbourfront Restaurant, Mt. St Agnes Academy, Mimi Rankin, The Royal Gazette, The Supermart and Warwick Academy.