Join Wilfrid Laurier University for MarketFest: In Peace and Friendship, a celebration of contemporary Indigenous artists, performers and makers, returning March 26 to the One Market building at Laurier’s Brantford campus. The free event builds on the success of the inaugural MarketFest held in September 2024.
Open to all, MarketFest transforms One Market’s atrium into an Indigenous vendor marketplace curated by artist and Laurier alum Alanah Jewell of Morningstar Designs. Guests can also enjoy live Indigenous performers and explore the newly launched MarketFest: In Peace and Friendship podcast.
MarketFest guests can enter One Market via the doors at the corner of Dalhousie and Market streets. The event is fully accessible.
Parking is available in several private and public parking lots near One Market, including the Charlotte Street lot (just east of One Market) and the Market Centre Parkade (59 Icomm Dr., accessible during construction via Hill Street, Wharfe Street and the Brantford Farmers’ Market). Visit the City of Brantford website for more information about municipal lots and street parking.
MarketFest is funded by Laurier Brantford Grants, Laurier’s Strategic Initiatives Fund, the Margaret Stedman Brantford Endowment and the Ruth Stedman Brantford Endowment.
Laurier invites Indigenous artists and artisans to participate as MarketFest vendors. Although there is no entry fee, completion of Indigenous verification is required. The deadline for applications is Feb. 27. Access the application form here.
The inaugural MarketFest was recognized with two major awards: the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s Best of District II Award for Special Events, In-Person (Multi-Day), and silver in the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education’s Prix d’Excellence for Best Indigenous/Reconciliation Event.
Alanah Astehtsi̲' Otsistóhkwaˀ (Morningstar) Jewell is a Bear Clan artist from Oneida Nation of the Thames and a Wilfrid Laurier University alum (BA ’19). The illustrator, painter and muralist launched Morningstar Designs in 2019 and has gone on to produce commissions for Roots and HomeSense. She currently lives in Kitchener, Ontario, where she organizes Indigenous Art Markets and consults on the Indigenization of urban parks and open spaces.
Hosting MarketFest in One Market reaffirms Laurier’s ongoing commitment to restoring mutual benefit in this space for Indigenous peoples and settlers.
The site had a longstanding history among local Indigenous communities as a market and trading post. An official decree stated that the site should remain a free and open market for all to use, allowing the Six Nations and their settler neighbours in Brantford to mutually benefit from this site of commerce. Over time, the decree was ignored: market fees were imposed, and Indigenous vendors were no longer welcome. By the 1980s the land was expropriated, the farmers’ market was moved, and a shopping mall was built in its place. The Eaton Market Square Mall, like so many others in downtowns across the country, failed to thrive.
Laurier purchased One Market from the City of Brantford in 2014 and is incrementally transforming it into vibrant spaces that support continued growth at Laurier Brantford, attract community members to the heart of the city, and create a hub for student and community activity.
Laurier is mindful of the complex history of this land and is working toward restoring mutual benefit as part of its commitment to reconciliation and Indigeneity. MarketFest is an expression of that commitment.
For more information about MarketFest, email Wilfrid Laurier University’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives at indigenous@wlu.ca.
Laurier’s Brantford, Kitchener and Waterloo campuses are located on the shared traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. This land is part of the Dish with One Spoon Treaty between the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabe peoples and symbolizes the agreement to share, protect our resources and not to engage in conflict. Laurier’s Milton campus is located on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, and part of the Nanfan Treaty of 1701 between the British Crown and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
