Craft shows are held throughout the year at many different locations and are hosting by many organizations and vary in size and quality of merchandise.
There are very large shows that cater to the more upscale shopper such as the Sugarloaf Craft Festivals where shoppers can find the unique handcrafted artwork of literally thousands of American Artists. They tout that they are "designer craft shows and fine art fairs with a difference."
They have expanded from the Mid-Atlantic to the Mid-West and now to New England. Sugarloaf art fairs and craft festivals are among the nation's best and largest shows of their kind. There is a variety of work by talented craft designers and fine artists that include blown glass and sculpture to fine art and designer clothing. Almost anything you can think about you can find in the way of handcrafted creations can be found here.
Thinking about something a bit smaller and with less journeyed crafters? Consider watching your local area newspapers for announcement of local events. There are always a slew of craft fairs around usually beginning in late September through mid-December. These fairs focus on fall decorations and the Christmas holidays. You can purchase any type of decoration, flower arrangement, painting, food products, and jewelry, etc. at these shows-all made by local crafts persons.
Every fall, local churches, schools and volunteer fire departments coordinate and host these special opportunities. Depending upon who hosts them determines where the proceeds go. Many churches have their members donate homemade items, baked goods and their time to work their events-all proceeds usually go to the church or to a special project they are sponsoring.
Local schools usually charge each vendor a fee for them to have a table at their sale and charge a very low admission fee. This allows the schools to provide the space for the sale and for them to use the proceeds paid by the vendors and the admission fees for their special projects-many times the schools use the money to help pay for band uniforms, special equipment or other extracurricular activities for the students.
Regardless of who is hosting the craft show, they are usually a lot of fun. You get to spend a day roaming around, looking at the items and thinking about what you would like to buy or to make for yourself. It is the adventure of the hunt that affects everyone-looking for the perfect item for your home or to give as a special gift to someone.
And, who does not like to receive a handmade gift? What for the advertisements in the paper and the signs on local schools announcing an upcoming event. If nothing else, you can get out of the house for a few hours and just look around at all of the items.
