The Broken Llama co-owners Waleska Utrera and daughter Dioné Walker design and craft custom piñatas, as well as a selection of Holiday advent calendars which feature gifts from local businesses.--SUBMITTED PHOTOS
kking@medicinehatnews.com
A mother-daughter duo has combined culture and community with a custom piñata and advent calendar business, The Broken Llama.
Hatters Waleska Utrera and daughter Dioné Walker established the business in February, selling an array of piñatas and party supplies for holidays, graduations, birthday parties, after-game celebrations and all other types of gathering.
“We’re from Guatemala and every party we’ve ever had, had a piñata in it,” Walker told the News. “piñatas make everyone excited; not just kids. I find actually adults are usually more excited than the kids.”
While piñatas are now a well-known party item, they were difficult to find when Utrera and Walker first moved to Canada. So, Utrera took it upon herself to learn the craft of piñata-making, switching between the traditional method of covering a wire frame with papermaché and her own style, which utilizes cardboard.
“I wanted to keep traditions in my family, so I decided to just go and do it for my kids,” said Utrera. “There was not even YouTube or anything like that, but I learned and did it for many years for my kids. And then, when the grandkids came, I continued doing it just because I wanted to keep it as a tradition in our family.
“And now, we are trying to share it with everybody else here in Canada and in Medicine Hat (which) is very nice. It’s actually very dear to my heart. Because you come to a country where everything is so different, and when you find that people open their minds to it, it just makes me happy and fills my heart.”
Despite being in business less than a year, The Broken Llama is already selling in three markets – Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Calgary – with good reception from each area’s residents.
“People love the idea,” said Walker. “We definitely have had a lot of excitement around it, which is very motivating.”
Ahead of the Holiday Season, the two expanded their range of products to now include handmade advent calendars geared toward adults, which feature products and gift cards from 25 local businesses.
“The advent calendars are just to show people that adults get to have fun, too, and they get to enjoy something for themselves,” said Walker. “And then very importantly, the advent calendars are a way to support local business. That’s huge for us.”
Valued at $300, the advent calendars have also been popular among shoppers, with tis year’s inventory selling out well ahead of Dec. 1.
Walker and Utrera plan to bring the advent calendars back next Holiday Season, and in the meantime, intend to keep growing their business.
“We do everything with so much passion and love,” said Walker. “And we just want people to know about us so that they all can share that experience.”
