Our thanks to our good friend Kerry Komai for this guest article!  Kerry is the owner of Komai’s Oh My, a custom geek craft shop right here in Madison County.

Huntsville has an odd (but congruent) population mix of Southern soccer moms and geeky engineers. So while everyone else is shopping at church craft fairs and holiday markets, where can a local nerd go for fandom-related gifts?

Introducing Nerdy Noel: A Geeky Shopping Event. This event aims to fill in the gap in the local convention schedule and provide a place for shoppers to browse all kinds of geeky merchandise, arts and crafts. Vendors will include several local small businesses and artists whose wares focus on sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, and anime fandoms.

I was inspired to come up with the idea for Nerdy Noel after setting up my booth for Komai’s Oh My at local craft fairs and talking to customers who were surprised to see a booth filled with Doctor Who and Harry Potter items. We have a good number of conventions in the Huntsville area, but when it comes to events specifically for holiday shopping, options are pretty limited. I wanted to change that and offer the community an opportunity to come to a free event where they will be able to find a wide variety of gifts for their nerdy friends and family.

Since the event is local and features local small businesses, it comes with all the benefits that the Shop Small movement is known for.  Shopping locally means you can find unique products, contribute to the local economy rather than a big box online retailer, and–in the case of most Nerdy Noel vendors–place orders for custom gifts.

Check out the local small businesses and artists you can shop with at Nerdy Noel:

• I Sew Mean–Hand sewn and embroidered items like lace masks, Pokemon keychains, and snarky zipper pulls.

• The Druid’s Den-Gorgeous handmade pottery and ceramics featuring dragons, sea creatures, Celtic knotwork, wearable horns, and all manner of awesome weirdness.

• Float Shop– “Float” is a former Atlanta based artist that is now living in Huntsville AL, working in the mediums of canvas painting, collage, digital art and design. Using cartoons, comix, Sci-fiction, fantasy, graffiti and street art as inspiration “Float” has been bringing his own spin to painting, furniture refurbishing, sticker design, art prints, ect.

• Komai’s Oh My-geeky gifts from different fandoms, including coffee mugs, keychains, lanyards, pint glasses, stockings, metal signs and more.

• Pixel Perfect-Awesome assortment of magnets, bow ties, earrings, and other items made from meticulously patterned perler beads in a huge variety of nerdy themes.

• Huntsville Comic & Pop Culture Expo/The Long Box-They will be set up selling lots of comics, and giving info on the Expo, which is an annual event returning in March 2017. It’s a huge celebration of all things geeky, with cosplay contests, lip sync battles, vendors, and more!

• First Contact Sewing-Unique wallets, bags, and accessories made by hand from recycled paper.

• Gwynne Spins-Hand-dyed and spun yarn and fibers in amazing colors, rainbows, and black-light reactive hues. Also, irresistible wool dryer Pokeballs!

• The Foldout Cat/Q’s Qonfections– Nifty crocheted, sewn, and woven goods (like those nifty Mason jar holders for your iced tea!), plus a variety of delicious and decorated cookies and Qonfections.

Nerdy Noel will take place at Straight To Ale Brands (2610 Clinton Ave W) on Sunday, December 11th from 12pm-6pm. Admission is free.