About Us

• Our beginnings were small... for as long as I could remember, my parents had a huge organic garden that fed us throughout the year with the help of a few preserving techniques like canning and drying.
• Life was good. Dad drove a truck for a living and Mom stayed home with me and my sister. I was less than 5 at the time.

• The Catalyst: Sometime before 1987, Dad got hurt and couldn't drive for a living anymore. Being lucky enough to live in Canada, the Government paid for Dad to go back to school to retrain. Mom also went back to school to learn about business and became our rock.
• The Shift: In the meantime to help supplement their income, my folks started hauling organic fruits and vegetables to health oriented markets and stores in nearby Toronto.
• There were few organic fruits or vegetables available at the time - there weren't even any organic regulations. It was based on trust! We found that by providing clean, high quality organic produce to the conscientious health food stores and discerning vegetable markets in Toronto, we were filling a void.
• A group of organic pioneers emerged under the flag of OCIA and met regularly in Guelph, Ontario. It was among the first of the movements that would become today's organic standards and was tough indeed. Mom and Dad were among them.

• A Shift in Focus: Our little business grew, and it wasn't long before one of our supplying farms decided (tragically) to give up on organics.
• The Decision: Mom and Dad decided to leave the produce trucking business behind and concentrate on what would be called "organic herbs, spices and related articles."
• First Major Line: Even though we could hardly keep up, we pushed on, and the fledgling business grew. We managed to negotiate a distribution deal with a like-minded American distributor that was heavily into dried bulk organic herbs that could be sold year-round, Frontier Natural Products Co-Op. That was our first line of distributed products.
• Industry Connections: Later, we would shake the hands of Daniel Gagnon, the founder of Herbs Etc. and Mariam Massaro of Wise Ways Herbals (Unfortunately we no longer carry Wise Ways or Herbs etc. products). Other product lines would come and go, but the companies have always been near and dear to us, since they are of such outstanding quality and usefulness.

• Identifying the Gap: As things progressed, we realized there was a hole in the industry, there was a lack of good quality herbs readily available to the end user in teabags. We decided to do something about it.
• Launch: Dad bought a bunch of secondhand tea bagging machines and we started putting our great organic herbs into teabags and building our own line, Celebration Herbals (est. 1997).

Where We Are Now:

We package all our high quality organic ingredients in Wainfleet, Ontario under both Celebration Herbals and Organic Connections labels. Because we curate every ingredient and every step in the process, we have complete control of our quality. We make over 1300 items and distribute them across North America. Additionally, a few companies have partnered with us for distribution so we can serve our core customers even better.

Celebration Herbals (Our Brand for End Users)

• Herbal, Green and Black Teas 
  150 varieties, mostly organic 
• Bottled Spices and Gourmet Seasoning Blends 
  90 varieties, all organic
• Smudge Wands
  an extensive line of smudge wands and accessories
  
  

Organic Connections (Our Brand for Professionals) 

• Organic Bulk Pack ~ for bulk sections, professional herbalists, chefs, and other mid-volume users.
  Over 400 items, mostly organic • item numbers beginning with "C."
• Retail Pack Bulk ~ bulk packs of single ingredient herbs and spices, and our gourmet seasoning blends for stores without dispensaries
  Over 175 items, mostly organic 
• Empty Capsules (Vegetarian and Gel)
  Empty capsules you can fill at home with your own herbs
• Industrial Bulk ~ for companies that need larger amounts 
  Over 300 items packed to order from our raw materials warehouse
  Full, detailed quality packages available for every item
  
  

Other Brands we Distribute

• Singing Dog Vanilla 
  a full line of very high quality vanilla beans, extracts, alcohol-free extract, paste, and related items ~ mostly organic items
• The Algonquin Tea Company
  Algonquin Tea collection, Wild@Heart collection, and Pine Tea ~ all available in tea bags and loosepack
  26 items in total with many organic and/or wild harvested

Related Accessories

• All the things you need to display, use, package, and enjoy herbs/spices and the myriad creations you'll make 

Industry Affiliations

Proud members of COTA, CHFA, AHPA, ABC, SENPA, MAHO

Other Distribution Partners 

We are proud to work with a few other family-owned and operated distribution houses who help us get our items to stores and businessess across North America

Quality First

Every lot of ingredients we receive is inspected by a member of our family or our head of QC to ensure all the quality specifications are met.

Beyond the standards live our years of herbology and culinary item experience. Every ingredient we accept, we would feed to our family and are proud to place our label on. 

Here are the certifications we carry to back it up:

• • • Certified Organic Processor by OCIA
    • Kosher certified by KSA
    • SQF certified