Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Aklavik (Apr 15/02) - Behind the counter at the Okevik Craft Shop, Annie C. Gordon is smiling. The cheery 64-year-old crafter has lots to smile about.

Annie C. Gordon spends her days working on sewing projects at the Okevik Craft Shop in Aklavik. - Lynn Lau/NNSL photo

She gets to do what she loves best all day -- sewing -- and when she's tired of it, she closes shop and does other things she likes to do, like going hunting and trapping on the land.

Gordon has sewn all her life and was selling her wares from home before she opened her store in 1992.

"It's just sort of a fun thing," she says. "It's something I like to do. I can't say I could buy a lot of things (with the money I make), it's just to keep my shop going."

The store has received visitors from all over and sometimes, Gordon gets orders from people from as far away as the United States. "I enjoy meeting people. There was people from Germany -- they couldn't even talk, but I made a few signs so I could tell them what's this and what's that. I enjoyed talking to them."

Gordon also likes getting visitors from around the Delta who come to buy crafts or pick up sewing materials. Most of her customers are locals because she closes her shop during the busiest tourist season -- summer. "That's when I'm on holiday and enjoying the weather," she laughs. After all, her store isn't named okevik ("wintering place") for nothing.

In the summer, she and her husband Danny drive to Edmonton for an annual shopping trip and vacation.

During their travels, she picks up new ideas for beadwork, clothing and slippers.

Back at home, Gordon sells her slippers and mukluks faster than she can make them. Often, people see her working on something and decide to buy it before she's even done. She says if she could, she'd just sew and build up her inventory, but she's always got orders to fill. She stopped taking orders at Easter so she could catch up, and go muskrat hunting in May.

"I'm planning to retire some time, but I don't know when. I still like sewing."