How Puces POP drives a local, handmade economy of Montreal artisans

There are artisanal fairs, and then there’s THE artisanal fair: Montreal's Puces POP.

An off-shoot of the POP Montreal International Music Festival, was born in 2004 with a focus on hand-made products by local artisans ranging from clothiers, visual artists, jewelers, ceramicists, toymakers, gourmandises—you name it, and they’ve probably sold it at some point over their near-two decades of operation.

Since its inception, Puces POP has grown to include three fairs throughout a given year (one of which being a holiday edition that’s more of a two-for-one affair held over two weekends), each time bringing together 100 or more vendors and 10,000 visitors.

Now, it’s more than safe to say that it’s a foundational part of the POP universe.