Map in Hand,
All Around the Harbour.

At a small stall lined with country labels, someone stops to wonder: where was this made? The ten-day CRAFTARA Festival is running at the W.E.B. Du Bois Centre in Accra from August 20 to 30. Exhibitors from around 12 African countries—including Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal—have brought craft, visual art, fashion and regional cooking under one roof. There are also showcases of young people's skills, music and activities offering a taste of traditional culture.

What catches my attention is that visitors do not have to begin by comparing whole countries. They can first lean in toward one object. Someone might notice a weave or a combination of colours, check the label, and then look again with a quiet “Ah.” I would probably be rerouted by the smell of food, while making a mental note of the first stall I wanted to revisit. Cultures spread across an enormous region have been brought close enough for a casual detour.

With a map in hand, local residents make a circuit of their own harbour. On August 28, from 2 to 5 p.m., Harbour Quay in Port Alberni, British Columbia, hosted a free event unveiling its renovations. The harbour has been a town gathering place since 1984; now its exterior and patio have been refreshed. The afternoon included a self-guided tour, a ribbon-cutting and an open house at the Marine Building, along with live music and free activities for children.

What I like most is that maps were handed out so people could inspect the finished work. These were not tourists discovering the waterfront, but residents who already knew it, turning the map and saying, perhaps, “Oh, this changed too.” Because parking was limited, people were encouraged to arrive on foot, by bicycle, public transit or carpool. Even on the day a renewed harbour was being shown off, the town first had to work out how everyone would get there. It feels less like a grand unveiling and more like everyday life.

Someone arrives for vegetables, rummages through vintage clothes and somehow leaves holding a coffee too. That unexpected trio may be entirely possible in Waimate, in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island, where a community market is held every Saturday morning. On August 29, from 9 a.m. until noon, Seddon Square filled with produce, vintage goods, crafts, coffee, food and everyday items. Shoppers can buy directly from the people who make or grow them.

The pleasure of a market, I think, is that shopping categories quickly stop being useful. Someone may examine an old jacket with a bag of potatoes on one arm; someone else may struggle to put down a cup while choosing household goods. Those scenes are my imagination, not details from the source, but they are suggested by everything gathered in the square. A Saturday errand that was supposed to be one thing becomes three by the time you head home. I would secure the coffee first, then welcome whatever was not on my list.