What started as an idea is starting to grow into a community.
The Wandering Market began holding their DIY Repair Hubs in November and have seen them grow with each subsequent month.
"We have a customer that comes in every week to get his carrots that he juices and he said 'have you heard of these repair cafés that are popping up all over the world?" recalled Nadine Lee from the Wandering Market. "He explained that people bring in their broken stuff and we share skills. So I said well we should try it. Let's do it. We have the space, so we might as well.
"Now, we get together once a month and people get bring in stuff that they don't necessarily know how to fix or they just haven't made the time."
The Wandering Market sells farm fresh food from area farmers and having the space for a monthly repair café to reduce waste fit with their clientele and their mandate.
"It just fits in perfectly (with the Wandering Market)," Lee said.
The DIY Repair Hub typically draws between 12-20 people with a broad range of expertise.
"We have a pretty good collection of people who have different knowledge," Lee said. "Some people are good with sewing or who are good at fixing sewing machines or electrical or bike repair. Usually someone will put up a table with a sewing machine and then there's an electronics table and a construction table for wood projects and gluing or whatever."
The next Repair Hub will be held on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. at the Wandering Market (461 Athabasca St. E.). Subsequent Repair Hubs are announced on the DIY Repair Hub's Facebook page.
The community around the Repair Hub has grown organically as more people use it and chip in to repair goods.
"We actually didn't do too much planning because we're all really busy. We thought 'let's just start it and then we'll adjust whatever needs to be adjusted' instead of putting all of this work in and never getting anything done," Lee said. "So we just meet and it ends up being a really good mix.
"It's amazing the amount of stuff we get fixed in two hours. There's always a long list. What I do is throughout the month I have a box of stuff and throw it in the box and then bring it on Saturday night and do it all on Saturday night. It's really fun too."
