Favorite Street or Arts and Craft Fairs?

[crazyme5kids]

Do you have a favorite fair you like to go to? If so, what type of fair is it, and why do you like it?

 

[SamRoc]

I love the Lavallette heritage festival in nj. its after labor day every year. There are so many street vendors and the food is great. And its right on the Barnegat bay where they have rides for the kids as well as an antique car show. its one of the main reasons i bought a house here! Another one is the Point Pleasant seafood festival right after labor day also. the crab cakes are the best i ever had. so many craft vendors and the food is amazing. The weather is also perfect that time of year.

 

[wiigirl]

In Kansas City we have the Plaza Art Fair....we never miss it. Tons of artists and AWESOME food. Its really a good time.

http://countryclubplaza.com/event/plaza-art-fair/

 

[momz]

The Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County Indiana. I especially like the town of Bridgeton.

 

[TTFN]

Two we try to go to every year:

The Bloomin' Festival at St. Bernard's Prep in Cullman, AL. Lots of great stuff, and the monks sell the bread they bake there. This one is the first weekend in April this year.

The Kentuck Art Festival in Northport, AL (just north of Tuscaloosa). Lots of great everything and more folk art than you normally see at festivals. This one takes place mid October.

 

[crazyme5kids]

Do you all buy any of the crafts, or go to fairs mainly to eat? I find I rarely get something to eat unless it's an ethnic festival.

 

[Imzadi]

My favorite craft fair is the one held at Lincoln Center twice a year, once in the spring and once in Sept.. for two weekends each time. It is an extremely high-end crafts fair, in which each exhibitor is juried for the quality of their products. So no cheapy, overseas, manufactured products can slip in. NOTHING at flea market level. It is the epitome of craft fairs to get to exhibit at and we get exhibitors coming in from all over the U.S. and Canada. This is NOT a street fair or a food fair. It is a crafts fair with one meager aisle of 5(?) food booths. There is quite a difference in the types of fairs and the clientele and price range they will spend.

Last I heard, (several years ago,) each weekend of this fair costs between $700 - $1500 per booth in exhibitor fees alone - and the fair runs rain or shine, with no covering other than the pop-up tents the exhibitors bring with them. And there have been several times where the whole weekend has been completely rained out and exhibitors have lost more money on the exhibitor fees, hotel & travel expenses than they made. But, for many, the fair is so worth it, as they can make so much money, and they get repeat customers and orders for Christmas just from the fair.

Yes, I have bought stuff from the fair. They are items I can't get anywhere else.

Here are some pics of the types of crafts at the fair:
http://www.craftsatlincoln.org/myindex.cgi

 

[njmom47]

I love the Lavallette heritage festival in nj. its after labor day every year. There are so many street vendors and the food is great. And its right on the Barnegat bay where they have rides for the kids as well as an antique car show. its one of the main reasons i bought a house here! Another one is the Point Pleasant seafood festival right after labor day also. the crab cakes are the best i ever had. so many craft vendors and the food is amazing. The weather is also perfect that time of year.

This is totally my neck of the woods!!
I'll have to check out the one in Lavallette; it sounds pretty great....I'm allergic to shellfish so I don't go to any of the seafood festivals around here.

 

[NewRVLady]

I am going to a new one-for me-this weekend in Fairhope Alabama
It has an area of fine crafts and an area of regular crafts

 

[Imzadi]

I love the Lavallette heritage festival in nj. its after labor day every year. There are so many street vendors and the food is great. And its right on the Barnegat bay where they have rides for the kids as well as an antique car show. its one of the main reasons i bought a house here! Another one is the Point Pleasant seafood festival right after labor day also. the crab cakes are the best i ever had. so many craft vendors and the food is amazing. The weather is also perfect that time of year.

This is totally my neck of the woods!!
I'll have to check out the one in Lavallette; it sounds pretty great....I'm allergic to shellfish so I don't go to any of the seafood festivals around here.

Have either of you been to the NJ Folk Festival? I know one crafter there. But, I haven't been there yet. I'm wondering if it's more of a food festival with crafts as kind of an after thought, kind of fair?

http://www.njfolkfest.org/

 

[java]

We love that Lincoln Center one. I bought some Barbara Garrison art last time I went. Oh and my favorite giraffe vase by Jef Raasch. We could never afford his stuff now. But we saw him at his first and only arts and crafts show.

(I also love the Bryant park holiday fair, which has some manufactured goods but some unique handmade things.

My favorite craft fair is the one held at Lincoln Center twice a year, once in the spring and once in Sept.. for two weekends each time. It is an extremely high-end crafts fair, in which each exhibitor is juried for the quality of their products. So no cheapy, overseas, manufactured products can slip in. NOTHING at flea market level. It is the epitome of craft fairs to get to exhibit at and we get exhibitors coming in from all over the U.S. and Canada. This is NOT a street fair or a food fair. It is a crafts fair with one meager aisle of 5(?) food booths. There is quite a difference in the types of fairs and the clientele and price range they will spend.

Last I heard, (several years ago,) each weekend of this fair costs between $700 - $1500 per booth in exhibitor fees alone - and the fair runs rain or shine, with no covering other than the pop-up tents the exhibitors bring with them. And there have been several times where the whole weekend has been completely rained out and exhibitors have lost more money on the exhibitor fees, hotel & travel expenses than they made. But, for many, the fair is so worth it, as they can make so much money, and they get repeat customers and orders for Christmas just from the fair.

Yes, I have bought stuff from the fair. They are items I can't get anywhere else.

Here are some pics of the types of crafts at the fair:
http://www.craftsatlincoln.org/myindex.cgi

 

[SamRoc]

This is totally my neck of the woods!!
I'll have to check out the one in Lavallette; it sounds pretty great....I'm allergic to shellfish so I don't go to any of the seafood festivals around here.

The Lavallette heritage festival is so much fun. The weather is perfect and there are so many craft vendors. Lots of fall crafts and Halloween. About 12 years ago we went there for the day and that was my decision to move there! I love old cars (especially mustangs) and they have over 100 classic cars all lined up on Bay Boulevard overlooking the water. This year its on September 6 on Philadelphia and Bay Boulevard from 12-6.

 

[SamRoc]

Have either of you been to the NJ Folk Festival? I know one crafter there. But, I haven't been there yet. I'm wondering if it's more of a food festival with crafts as kind of an after thought, kind of fair?

http://www.njfolkfest.org/

I haven't been to that one yet but i will be sure to check it out. thanks!

 

[njmom47]

The Lavallette heritage festival is so much fun. The weather is perfect and there are so many craft vendors. Lots of fall crafts and Halloween. About 12 years ago we went there for the day and that was my decision to move there! I love old cars (especially mustangs) and they have over 100 classic cars all lined up on Bay Boulevard overlooking the water. This year its on September 6 on Philadelphia and Bay Boulevard from 12-6.

Maybe this fall I can go. Ds hopefully will be away at college, and "local summer" (to quote the local DJs ) is the best time around here! I also am a classic car lover (although I'm more of a Chevy girl ) but ever since our dkids were little, we have taken them to "cool car" shows (that's what we called them).
Thanks for the info.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

I love festivals, so I'll list a few of my favorites:

The Winter Park Arts Festival in Winter Park, FL- This is such a beautiful arts festival in the lovely downtown district right outside of Orlando. It's actually next weekend.

The Mount Dora Arts Festival (spring) and Crafts Festival (fall) in Mount Dora, FL-Such an adorable downtown, and it becomes PACKED with people for these festivals.

The Festival of the Masters at Downtown Disney- If you're ever at WDW in November, you have to check it out. They only allow award-winning artists to show here, so you'll see a lot of high quality art.

SoWa Open Market- Boston, MA- Whenever I visited my friend in the fall when she was in school in Boston, we'd go to this together. Lots of vendors selling various things- crafts, clothes, foods, etc.

I also love going to Farmer's Markets. We have several here in Orlando

 

[bcla]

There's a lot of this as a subset of many county fairs. I remember a pretty nice selection of artisans set up at the Gilroy Garlic Festival once.