WEST CANAAN — Every Saturday after Thanksgiving, Robin Parker and Mary Darisse know where they’ll be: the regional craft fair at Mascoma Valley Regional High School and Indian River Middle School.
“We come every year to support all the local crafters,” Darisse said.
The friends, who both live in Canaan, have known each other for decades and the craft fair serves as not just a shopping trip but a reunion.
“I’ve seen people here today I haven’t seen in a long time,” Darisse said. “It’s a get-together for the community.”
Darisse and Parker were among the hundreds who stopped by the schools to peruse handmade items created by dozens of vendors. There were jams, jewelry, blankets, socks, maple syrup and ornaments, among other items.
It was Roger Bean’s third year attending the craft show, which is sponsored by the Canaan Old Home Days Committee. Bean creates ornaments and other wooden items using woodburning techniques.
“It’s one of the shows that has a wide variety of stuff,” Bean, of Claremont, said of the craft event. “I usually do pretty well here.”
He does around six craft shows a year, with the holiday season being the busiest time. Bean was joined by his 12-year-old granddaughter Stella Feeney.
“She’s learning the business, how to wood-burn, everything else,” Bean said.
Bean has also noticed a change in shopper behavior: He’s seeing more people this year than he has in the past years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s getting the word back out to people that shows are here,” Bean said.
Kitty Benson drove from Ludlow, Vt., to have a booth at the craft fair for the first time. It was her third show of the year, and she has one more to go this holiday season. She makes bucket luminaries and elaborate cards using cut paper, among other items.
“This is my relaxation,” said Benson, who works as a nursing assistant at Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center.
While she has always been into crafting, her interest deepened even more during the early days of COVID-19.
“With the pandemic, I stayed home a lot. I’d go home, I’d to go work,” she said.
Nonprofit organizations were also represented at the regional craft fair. Diane Moore and Deana Champney attended on behalf of the Farms for City Kids Foundation. They were selling cheese and other products made at the nonprofit’s home at Spring Brook Farm in Reading, Vt. This is the first year Moore and Champney started attending craft shows to raise awareness about the organization.
“This gives us something to do to raise money for the foundation,” Moore said. Around 50 people had already stopped by their table during the first hour.
The Canaan Lions Club was also well-represented. While they were selling refreshments in the high school’s cafeteria like they do every year, this was the first year they also set up to do vision screenings for children up to age 12.
“We think we need exposure and we want to get as many children as we can,” said Barbara Bickel, a member of the Lions Club.
In addition to raising money for Lions Club programs, members also get a chance to talk to community members about the work they do and hopefully add to their ranks.
“Service organizations in general are struggling. They’re getting smaller and they’re getting older,” said Michael Leahey, president of the Canaan Lions Club. “It’s hard to get younger people interested. Visibility is a start.”
Shoppers of all ages walked through the aisles stopping at booths as they went. Among them was Lisa Wallen, of Enfield, who attends the craft show every year. Craft shows are where she does the bulk of her shopping for friends “and where I tend to be naughty and buy stuff for myself,” she added with a laugh.
She comes back to Mascoma year after year because the vendors are so friendly. By midmorning, she’d already discovered some tumblers and a wreath of birdseed.
“I always find something,” Wallen said.
That’s the case for Parker and Darisse. While they do shop for family, they also keep an eye out for items for themselves.
“They’re interesting,” Parker said about the vendors who come year after year.
They also enjoy seeing their evolution. Darisse’s children went to school with some of the people making and selling items. Now she gets to see them all grown up.
“It’s really neat to see them as vendors,” she said.
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
