Craft fair offers variety of gift ideas

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Christmas was a dominant theme at the 35th annual Warren County Arts and Crafts Fair, as shown by Lauren Hutton, who is hugging a Santa found at one of many booths at the Civic Center. She is the daughter of Rick and Carolyne Hutton of McMinnville.

The 35th annual Warren County Arts and Crafts Fair welcomed hoards of people from far and wide to the Civic Center this weekend.

From as close as McMinnville to as far away as Michigan, there was no shortage of products for the person who appreciates handmade items, considered a mainstay of the craft fair, which is sponsored each year by Union Planters Bank.

Hand-painted goods and art, knitted and sewn items, and even a banana clip display were on hand along with numerous wood crafts, baked goods and canned jams and jellies.

While venues with handmade items always seem to draw a crowd, Susan Holden of Chattanooga said she made the journey with her daughter and two young grandchildren after having attended a similar craft fair here years ago and having a positive experience.

“I came with a friend about 20 years ago,” she said after browsing a booth yesterday. “I thought about it and thought about it and finally came back. I have very fond memories of that, so I thought I’d bring my daughter and her children.”

Union Planters community bank president Glyna Lee said the bank makes an effort to attract others to the area.

“We have a large following. We do a lot of advertising in the surrounding counties all the way to Chattanooga. We have the show on the same weekend every year so everybody knows when it is and they love it,” she said, adding that it’s not unusual for people from other states to plan family reunions in conjunction with the event.

“We had some from Michigan who are doing their family thing and they’re doing it this weekend so they can come to the craft fair,” she added.

Closer to home, there was a much more practical reason for attending.

“It’s real simple,” Morrison resident Gloria McCloud said. “We just wanted to get out of the house.”

Vendor Darlene Cooley Williams, a maker of hand-painted porcelain, said she has been coming to the fair for 29 years. While she was hoping for steady crowds yesterday, she said she wished the craft fair would have continued to be a three-day event, as it once was.

Lee said a few years back, a vote was taken of vendors and it was decided not to offer the event on Sundays anymore.

But all said the fair offers artists an opportunity to display their talents every year, whether those products are considered fine art or are considered crafts that use plain old ingenuity to attract.

“There are a lot of unique things,” McCloud added after shopping at the fair. “Who would have thought of making pocket books out of Kool-Aid packets?”