The refrain is always the same.
'They are soooo cute,' 'And, soooo fluffy,' and 'Can I hold one, pleeeease?'
Of course, you can.
Because this is the Hatch a Chick Chick Holding Station and cupping a delicate three-day-old, yellow, fluffy, chicken chick in your hands is what it's all about.
"Lots of people come specifically to the market (the station was at Wednesday's Kelowna Farmers' and Crafters' Market at the Landmark District) to hold a chick," said volunteer Celisha, who was manning the station.
"And, we also get a lot of people who happen to be walking by and just have to hold a chick. In fact, we have some people that come by multiple times in a day or over the season."
The suggested donation for a chick-holding session is $2 to $20.
By the way, you wash your hands pre-and-post chick holding with the provided sanitizer.
Celisha adds that holding an adorable chick is just so calming and therapeutic -- especially for city slickers who may have never been this close to a baby animal before.
It's not just kids who clamour to get their hands on the balls of yellow fluff.
Adults love it, too.
For instance, grown women Kerry and Lisa were sitting at the station amongst the kids, enjoying a quiet one-on-one moment with chicks.
"Two chicks with two chicks," quipped Kerry.
You'd think fragile chicks and kids' or even adults' overzealous hands would not be a good fit.
"As soon as kids enter the station, they pick up on the gentle and respectful energy and handle the chicks really delicately," said Celisha.
Chick holders are asked to sit down and Celisha carefully puts a chick in their upright, cupped hands.
Slowly bring your thumbs over the chick and the embrace resembles an egg or nest that the chick responds to by settling down and often falling asleep.
Some young and impatient kids last only a few moments with a chick in their hands, others take their time and soak in the zen of the experience.
The Hatch a Chick Chick Holding Station is the brainchild of Kelowna farmer Dave 'Chicken Dave' Scherle.
A dozen years ago he was asked by the Interior Provincial Exhibition & Stampede (better known as the Armstrong Fair or IPE) if he could do something with chick holding.
Hatch a Chick has been a fixture at the fair ever since.
And, the concept has grown to include chick holding stations at the Kelowna Farmers' and Crafters' Market every Wednesday and Saturday; the downtown Kelowna markets on Thursday nights, Saturdays and Sundays; the Vernon night market in Poulsen Park on Fridays; the Vernon Farmers' Market at KalTire on Mondays and Thursdays; the Rock Creek Fall Fair and the Salmon Arm Fall Fair.
When I meet Chicken Dave at the Kelowna market he has a big smile on his face and he's wearing a double-entendre t-shirt reading: 'How to Pick Up Chicks' with a three-point illustration. (The t-shirts are also for sale for $25).
He explained that he picks up (no pun intended) just-hatched chicks at the Okanagan Hatchering in Armstrong weekly to run the chick holding stations at the various markets.
The chicks are then taken to Dave's farm at a week old as they get bigger and more rambunctious and not good for the holding program anymore.
Hatch a Chick also has a $260 program where you can be set up with an incubator and a few eggs to hatch and keep the chicks for a week before returning them or deciding to keep them.
Eventually, Chicken Dave hopes to open Birdie's Market at his family's farm -- a poultry park, community garden and permanent chick holding station.
The cuteness overload of kids and chicks leads to lots of photos, which the station urges you to share on social media with @hatchachick.
