Emily Schwartz and her mother run a Manitoba artisan market, but when she envisions what she wants the business to be, she doesn't look at other craft sales. Instead, she finds inspiration from a snack company in Southern Ontario.
Since 1949, WT Hawkins Ltd. produces crunchy, cheese-flavored puffs known as Cheezies. Emily recently told her mother, Deb Schwartz, that she wanted their business, Scattered Seeds Craft Market, to be the “Hawkins Cheesey of craft sales.”
Hawkins perfected the cheese, Emily explains, so whenever she wants to improve Scattered Seeds, she thinks about how she and Deb can “Hawkins perfect it,” which is her way of saying hone it and make it the best it can be.
MICHAELA MCKENZIE/FREE PRESS Deb Schwartz, left, and Emily Schwartz, the mother-daughter team behind the market, at the Scattered Seeds Craft Market on Friday, October 17, 2025. For Aaron's story. Free Press 2025
“As far as I know, they (the Hawkins) only do one thing,” explains Emily, 31, sitting in her office at Red River Exposure Place in Winnipeg. “And so I just want to do something really good, like they did and continue to do.”
There are three days left before the start of Scattered Seeds' annual fall market, and under the harsh glare of fluorescent lights, men operating scissor lifts are just beginning to prepare the venue.
By the time Deb, Emily and their two staff members finish, the space will be a warm, welcoming, cozy space, lit with fairy lights, where visitors can shop from hundreds of local vendors.
There will be art, bath products, candles and ceramics on display, as well as clothing, books, food and drink. There will be flowers, decorations, toys and games, as well as textiles and wood and metalwork including cribbage boards, cutting boards and kitchen knives.
The market started last weekend and runs from Friday to Sunday.
A group of more than 160 vendors attend the event each weekend, and while Deb still worries every year that no one will show up, the Schwartzes expect about 15,000 people to attend the event over the two weekends.
It's been 30 years since Deb and a group of friends organized the first Scattered Seed Market in 1995, and she and Emily are aiming to create a festive atmosphere at this year's event, complete with a meter-wide disco ball.
Of course, Deb and her friends didn't invent the concept of a craft market—artisans have been selling their wares at festivals and fairs for centuries. But before Third + Bird was a word and Luckygirl was born, there was Scattered Seeds, giving people in Winnipeg and surrounding communities a place to buy products from local growers.
MICHAELA MCKENZIE / FREE PRESS Scatter Seed Craft Market at the Red River Fairgrounds on Friday, October 17, 2025. For Aaron's story. Free Press 2025
“I had no idea he would grow into what he is now,” Deb, 68, says. “To have a business for 30 years, I think it’s pretty remarkable.”
The story of Scattered Seeds begins in the 1980s, when Deb and her sister Linda took a country folk painting class. They reached out to their mother and two friends and decided to hold a small craft sale in the living room of Deb's East St. Paul home this holiday season. They were hoping to earn some money for Christmas gifts.
The annual sale grew over the next few years, and eventually 600 people came into the lounge to buy crafts, visit old friends and make new connections.
In 1995, the group decided to formalize this endeavor and host the first-ever Scattered Seeds event at the Transcona Country Club.
Deb remembers how they embellished the truth by placing a small advertisement in Free press It said, “First Annual Scattered Seed Craft Market. Booths are growing fast.” At that time, only three suppliers had registered.
However, when the market opened, there were more than 65. Sleet fell from the sky as the parking lot became crowded with visitors.
“My uncle came in—he was helping my dad direct traffic at the time—and said, 'Debbie, I wish I could tell you it's controlled chaos, but it's absolute pandemonium,'” Deb recalls.
The following year the event moved to Assiniboia Downs, where it was held until 2010. When it outgrew that space, it moved to the Red River Fairgrounds. Deb became the sole owner around 2012 and Emily joined the business as Market Coordinator in 2021.
MICHAELA MCKENZIE/FREE PRESS Shelley Molitowski (left), Eileen Zacharia, Helen Shuturma, Linda Verbong, Deb Schwartz and Emily Schwartz (the team behind the market) at the Scattered Seeds Craft Market on Friday, October 17, 2025. For Aaron's story. Free Press 2025
While the event has grown over the decades, the Schwartzes say the goal has remained the same: to celebrate and encourage creativity, and to support Manitoba small businesses by providing a reasonably priced platform for artists and artisans to sell their work.
Altona resident Sean Dyke has been a salesman at Scattered Seeds for two decades. The 46-year-old, who founded Shaun's Pottery in 1999, sells his products at six to eight pop-up events each year. It accounts for about 75 percent of his annual sales, he said, and Scattered Seeds is by far the market in which he does most of the business.
“I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without them,” Dyke says. “They literally allowed me and probably dozens of other people to pursue our passions, so we appreciate the space they give us.”
Amanda Buse, founder of popular Winnipeg candle brand Coal and Canary, says her company pops up in about 20 pop-up markets across the country each year, and Scattered Seeds is one of her favorites.
“(Schwartzes) are powerhouses—simply the nicest people you'll ever meet,” says Buse, who first appeared on Scattered Seeds in 2015.
“They're dynamic, extremely creative, very hard-working, they bring so much energy… They just curate such a great selection of vendors, and their marketing is wonderful and very well done. They always draw an impressive crowd.”
Although she can't quite believe how Scattered Seeds has grown, Deb Schwartz says she's grateful for how it has evolved over the past 30 years. She invited the co-founders to meet her at an event on Friday so she could thank them for the groundwork they laid.
“I’m grateful for this business,” Deb says. “I think people think it's a big deal when you start something (like Scattered Seeds, but) I know who I am and I'm just a regular person.”
MICHAELA MCKENZIE / FREE PRESS Scatter Seed Craft Market at the Red River Fairgrounds on Friday, October 17, 2025. For Aaron's story. Free Press 2025
With any luck, Scattered Seeds will continue to produce a quality product for decades to come – just like Hawkins Cheezies.
Deb believes that with an idea and patience, anyone can start a business at home. When they're ready to share what they've created, Scattered Seeds will be there, she said.
“We want to help (creators) take this as far as they can,” she says. “This is our heartbeat.”
Aaron Epp covers business for the Free Press. After working for the newspaper for ten years as a freelancer, he joined the newspaper staff full-time in 2024. He was previously associate editor of Canadian Mennonite magazine. More about Aaron.
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