There’s a new store on Mattawa’s Main Street, offering crystals, healing products, fresh herbs for teas and plants for smudging, and “a little bit of witchy goodness” too, explained Tamra Turcotte, the happy founder and owner of Crescent Creations.
Like many, “I’ve always been obsessed with crystals,” Turcotte explained, “most of them that I carry have a healing element,” and can be used to provide inspiration or as a defence against invasive energy. She offers amethyst—a popular crystal that she sources from Thunder Bay—as an example, as it is “good for anxiety.”
The store also sells jewellery made of the stones, and many people buy them to use in their own jewellery pieces. Many more simply like to collect the rocks and display them on their shelves.
Slices of agate, rounds of pyrite, small squares of Caribbean calcite are a few of the many stones and crystals available. Calcite, “an ideal stone for meditation” is known as a stone of spiritual awakening and transformation. Pyrite is no slouch either, offering strength, stability, and good luck.
One of Turcotte’s personal favourites, and one she wears most regularly, is selenite—named after Selene, the Greek goddess of the Moon—a highly spiritual stone and one suited well for those who conduct strong energies, or yearn to do so.
“Hold them or wear them on your body to draw the energy from them,” Turcotte explained of the crystals, admitting that it is difficult to explain the true energy one draws from these stones and crystals, as it is such an individual experience. “It’s hard to explain,” she said, which is why “I love when people are here so they can touch the crystals and they can feel them.”
“Something I pick up might feel warm, or give a vibration, but it might not be the same for others, who might feel something totally different from the same stone,” she said, emphasizing how people respond differently to different stones and crystals.
And all of this in downtown Mattawa? Turcotte is the first to admit that opening the shop in a small town like Mattawa was a bit of a leap. People may harbour some misconceptions and perhaps even negative opinions about a shop selling healing and energy crystals, and “witchy” things like Tarot decks and pendulum boards. But Mattawa is close to her heart, the town is home, so she didn’t want to do it anywhere else.
She’s lived in Mattawa since 2000, and is married to Dan Turcotte, of the famous Turcotte’s Chip Stand, now entering its 78th year in business, and admitted his poutine may have been a factor in her accepting his ring. Together the couple has travelled extensively—many of the places they visited have inspired her crystal collection—and they are the proud parents of their nine-year-old son, Dali.
See: Chip stand will mark 77th year after all as Town of Mattawa supports local
The chip stand keeps them both busy all summer, but after opening a few pop-up stores as Crescent Creations around the holidays, Turcotte decided it was time to try it out as a fully operational store. She signed a one-year lease at 317 Main Street and opened the doors in early March.
There is also a gallery room in the back, where Dan showcases his photography work, and has space to operate his Catch-Light photography business.
Turcotte’s pop-up shops went well, and now that she has committed to the store, “you wouldn’t believe how many people are coming out of the woodwork” to visit. “People are interested,” she said, “at least interested to see what it’s about.”
People have come from Pembroke, North Bay, Sturgeon Falls, and Verner, to visit. There are not many stores offering such wares in the north, and if crystals are your scene, then this is the place to be, “so I hope we’re the meeting place in the middle,” she said.
“It’s nice to be welcomed by the community,” she said, “because sometimes it comes with a little stereotyping and judging so it’s nice in a small community to do somethings that’s a little different.”
“We’re huge on this community,” she said, “and we’re big community supporters and this town has so many possibilities. “The vibe is different here,” she admitted, and she wants to continue drawing positivity to the town and the Main Street, to help “bring back the brick and mortars” within an “online generation,” to promote gathering and community, “to meet people and create support groups in safe spaces for everybody that might be going through tough times.”
“We don’t want to see main street crumble,” she stated, and “we try to encourage other people by putting ourselves out there.”
Besides the retail aspect, Turcotte also hosts various workshops and classes at the store—“meditations, full moon classes, and things like that to bring an evening vibe” to the downtown. “I do guided meditations and crystal healing myself,” she said, and plans to pursue that path as well.
To help with the workshops and classes, Turcotte plans to bring in guests—“it’s unbelievable how many local healers are in our area”—and she hopes her storefront can provide some more exposure for these people.
One of her first guests is Summer Houston, a local psychic who is offering private readings at Crescent Creations. “I was a little intimidated to put out a psychic reader in Mattawa,” she joked, “but people went nuts, they were all about it.”
“We sold 34 tickets in a matter of three hours,” she said, “so I think we’re going to create a little bit of buzz that people aren’t used to.”
“We’ve been very grateful,” to the community for offering support and encouragement, and this summer, although she’ll be back at the chip stand, she has seasonal staff to keep the doors open to customers. “And if they don’t leave with a collection of crystals and stones,” she said, “they will leave with knowledge, and that’s what we’re all about too.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
