Keeping up traditions: Istvan Bankuti brings Hungarian wreaths to P.E.I. homes

A Stratford, P.E.I. man who recently moved to the Island from Hungary is carrying on the tradition of his family's wreath-making business, going door-to-door to sell his homemade decorations.

"My father taught me back in Europe. He's 75-years-old and he's still building Christmas wreaths, like almost one thousand a year," said Istvan Bankuti.

Bankuti pulls his wreaths around in a little red wooden wagon.

"I had a hard time to carry them around on my arms, and I figured I'd just get a wagon and pull it around. It's much easier."

Istvan Bankuti sells wreaths door-to-door

8 years ago

Duration 0:53

Istvan Bankuti sells wreaths door-to-door

'It's great to meet people'

Bankuti said he doesn't like selling his wreaths at busy craft fairs.

"At Christmas, I usually just go around door-to-door, I don't like the big crowds," he said.

"I like the fresh air, and it's just great to meet people and sell my products."

Bankuti makes his wreaths in his basement apartment in Stratford.

Rows and rows of wreaths

He shoved the living room couch into the kitchen to make room for the rows and rows of wreaths that cover almost the whole floor.

Bankuti sells his wreaths from between $20 to $25. He said he doesn't really make a lot of money, since it takes him two or three hours to make each one.

Bankuti's work really begins in late fall when he starts collecting hundreds of pine cones.

Doesn't use glue

"I usually collect them in parks and campgrounds. I build a straw base. I don't use any glue," he said.

"I split the cones, and I wire them on that straw base and I varnish it and decorate it."

"It's very sturdy this way and doesn't fall apart like the glued ones."

Varied reactions

Bankuti hits the road almost every day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. He said people have varied reactions when he shows up at their door hauling a wagon full of wreaths.

"Some people are surprised, like I've come from the moon, like what am I doing here," he said.

"And when I explain to them that's my product, they become interested. Some people just love my product and they want to buy it right away."

Stratford resident Eric Bowlan bought one of Bankuti's wreaths.

Bowlan agreed that going door-to-door was a good business move.

"By going to the individual houses, it's better than if you're at a craft show trying to feed off a whole lot of different people."

As Bankuti was leaving, Bowlan suggested a name for the business: Wreaths on Wheels.

"I love it," said Bankuti.

Should have made more

The homemade wreaths are selling fast. Bankuti said he only made 200 wreaths. And more than half are gone.

"I realize once we get closer to Christmas, people buy more Christmas products and I just built a couple of hundred wreaths, he said.

"But I realize at the end that I don't have enough wreaths to sell to people because I didn't make enough."

Keeping up traditions

In a couple of weeks, Bankuti heads back to Hungary to spend Christmas with his parents. He'll tell them how he's carried on the family's wreath-making business in Canada.

"It's kind of important to keep up traditions and if possible to learn from our parents and what they did before, because everything is turning more artificial these days," he said.

"It's just nice to do something with the handmade products."

Bankuti plans to return to P.E.I next spring, where he will continue to work as a chef at theRodd Crowbush Golf and Beach Resort, in Morell, P.E.I.

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