About Us

“The underworld persists because society needs it, insists upon it, supports it (at the same time that it denies and persecutes it, of course).”
― Tom Robbins, Another Roadside Attraction

 

Wild Craft Mercantile is the third child of Amber and Hardy Haase.  Amber, from a lineage of equal parts French and British aristocracy and Lithuanian Pagans has devoted herself to the pursuit of alchemical discoveries and began exalting the moon at the tender age of 6 months. Hardy, descendant of Goths and Gauls, in his youth introduced a gambling den into his school.  As he matured he discovered that he believed in nothing.  This eventually led to the realization that he also believed in everything.  These events would foreshadow the path that led them both to each other in Vancouver at the dawn of the new century.  Upon meeting they immediately created their own religion and, inspired by the writings of Tom Robbins vowed to have a roadside attraction once they grew weary of their nomadic lifestyle.  They also vowed to revisit their nomadic lifestyle once they tired of that but that’s another story.  In 2019 this pledge was realized with the opening of Wild Craft Mercantile in Salmon Arm, BC and they have been endeavouring to make it weirder with each iteration.  Their location is on the former site of the regions first General Store (McKay and Currie's) in a town with one of the highest church-to-people ratios in Canada. Their move to this location potentially helped the building avoid another catastrophe as it has suffered from fires twice already – in 1929 and 1975.  It is conceivable that their collection of haunted dolls is working together with the local ghosts as a type of deflector shield for bad vibes , this falls under the axiomatic umbrella of “It's an older code, sir, but it checks out.”  - which could be applied to their entire perspective on life.

 

 

 “Logic only gives man what he needs. Magic gives him what he wants.”
― Tom Robbins, Another Roadside Attraction