The Autumn Art and Craft Fair season is winding down. Soon the outdoor events will heed to the chill in the air and move indoors. The hectic, fun and exhilarating Holiday Craft Fair Season is about to commence.
Cindy and I love going to craft fairs and festivals. Not just to sell the terrific products we make, but also to see what other artists and crafters have been creating. It a wonderful way to get to meet the creators of your purchase and find out the history of the item. Even before we started Celtic Chairde Creations, we enjoyed spending a few hours (or a whole day!) going through a fair finding unique gifts for friends and family - or ourselves.
Jane Sandlar from Ducky Life Teas is one of the folks we've been blessed to meet at our fair outings. In fact, we now use some of her marvelous teas in some of our jams and jellies (we love to drink them, too!) Her newsletter from September says it best:
"Craft shows started out as huge outdoor events held mostly in rural towns and usually in the summertime. They provided an outlet for local craftspeople to display and sell their creations. When shows moved indoors (in the early 1970s) and tapped into the holiday gift market by continuing into the fall, their popularity grew tremendously, propelling the crafts industry to new levels of recognition and potential profitability.
For some artists and craftspeople, creating and selling their personally crafted products is a hobby. For many though, it is their main source of income. Shows, fairs and festivals, with their low overhead and growing appeal, remain the ideal marketplace for artists and crafters to sell their unique creations directly to the public.
Art & craft shows, fairs and festivals run the gamut from free, local events held in churches or schools and featuring traditional country crafts and very affordable homemade gifts to large, regional, juried events that charge admission and feature higher end jewelry, art, handcrafted furniture, and pottery.
If you prefer green, sustainable products and locally created and individually crafted goods, these shows are the places to find them. Prices, even the higher ones, are reasonable. For your dollar(s), you get art and crafts made with real materials and personal workmanship.
If you still need convincing to support the people who display their wares at shows fairs and festivals, there's the sense of community you'll feel. You get to actually meet and interact with the person who crafted your necklace, wove your basket or used their hands to form your pottery. And how much more special can a purchase be than when it helps artisans continue to pursue the work they truly love?"
What more can I add, other than I hope to see you at one of our upcoming craft fairs and we can get to know each other!
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