Many signs tell of the approaching holiday season: string lights and wrapping paper at stores, commercials on TV, carols and other songs hitting the airwaves. But in Maine, perhaps nothing marks it more than the start of craft fair season.
From churches selling jams, pickles, candy and cookies to weekend-long affairs showcasing wares from Maine’s finest artists and artisans, there’s a craft fair for every taste, cause and available weekend, from now through mid-December.
In fact, you could do nearly all of your holiday shopping at craft fairs, if you felt so inclined. The weekend of Nov. 12 to Nov. 13 and Nov. 19 to Nov. 20 alone there are more than 40 craft fairs — and that’s just in eastern Maine.
For some churches, schools and other organizations, the holiday craft fair may be one of the major fundraisers of the year. Pastor Linette George of the Holden Congregational Church said that sales from their Nov. 12 holiday fair — and in particular, the 750 pounds of peanut brittle parishioners make and sell at the fair and in town this week — bring $5,000 into the church’s coffers, to help support the food pantry and the fuel assistance fund.
“The church has been making it for at least 30 years,” said George, who has been with the Holden church since 2013. “It was a former pastor, Rev. Harold Grove, who taught them how to make it. And now it’s a really big deal. We start peanut brittle season. We have teams. We have a schedule … it’s like an assembly line. It’s a real production.”
Production on peanut brittle begins around Columbus Day weekend, and continued this year until last weekend. In addition to the craft fair, peanut brittle is sold by individual church members, and at the G&M Market in Holden — it’s a hot commodity, despite it being a relatively simple recipe, comprised mainly of raw peanuts, sugar, corn syrup and margarine.
“It’s a really simple process, but you have to do it right,” said George. “It’s really such a benefit for everyone. We have so much fun doing it, and every age group does it. The 80-year-old ladies will make 100 bags like it’s nothing.”
In addition to being a valuable source of revenue, craft fairs are also perhaps the most direct way to buy local this season — you’re putting money directly into the hands of the people that made whatever you’re buying, whether they are part of a larger organization or are their own small business.
Lori Ouellette of Livermore is captain of the Etsy Maine Team, a coalition of Maine-based artisans and crafters that sell on the popular handmade and vintage e-commerce site Etsy.com. The group planned three large-scale craft fairs across the state — Portland in late October, the Bangor Mall on Nov. 12 and 13, and the the Brick Store Museum in Kennebunk on Nov. 26 — featuring hundreds of its members.
“We really try to focus on handmade and local. We want you to meet your maker,” said Ouellette, who has sold her handmade crocheted items under the name Bear Mountain Crochet since 2010. “It really means so much to people to meet someone face to face. You know their name. You might want something unique for your grandkid, and you can develop a relationship with that vendor that makes it that much more special … here in Maine, that means so much.”
For some makers, what they create is their full-time job. For others, it’s a part-time way to make a little extra. And for some retirees, it’s a chance to embrace a dream long-deferred.
Glenn McFadden has had a woodshop at his Searsport home for years, but now that both he and his wife, Cheryl, are fully retired, they are selling furniture, lamps and other handmade wooden items under the label Useful Things of Wood. This is the first year Useful Things of Wood has participated in United Maine Craftsmen shows. They were at the show at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor Nov. 5-6, and will be at the one at the Augusta Civic Center Nov. 12-13.
“We lobster fish, and we do this,” said Cheryl McFadden. “We’ve just started doing the United Maine Craftsmen shows, but we do little craft fairs too, like in Winterport and Freedom. We just love seeing people, and you learn a lot too. You never know just what people make or what you’ll find.”
Ouellette, who has been crocheting her whole life but only began selling her goods in 2010, has seen the Etsy community in Maine explode over the past five years — they are now up to 920 members in the Etsy Maine Team, from all walks of life.
“These are people that are full-time artisans and this is their job, and there are people that just make things in their basement and sell them sometimes,” said Ouellette. “And beyond just the Etsy team, we all do smaller craft fairs in our own communities too. I’ve been doing the craft fair here in Livermore for years … It’s all about building a community.”
George, the pastor at the Holden Congregational Church, echoed Ouellette’s feelings about community building. Whether it’s a hand-turned wooden bowl, a finely woven sweater or homemade peanut brittle at a small-town church, it’s the fact that you can buy it from the person that made it that makes it special.
“People have this circuit they do when it comes to craft fairs. They say they’ll eat breakfast at this one, and lunch at this one, and this where you can get that thing, and oh, they make this, and so on,” said Pastor George. “It really shapes our communities. People can support each other. That’s really nice, this time of year.”
A list of craft fairs happening in eastern, coastal and northern Maine is in the Things To Do calendar in today’s Bangor Daily News. If yours is not listed, please go online to bangordailynews.com and submit your event.
