Re-growing the craft fair
A scene from the first Osburn Craft Fair in 1981. The fair will be in its 41st year this year and is poised to be one of the biggest of the last few years under the direction of the Kiwanis Club of the Silver Valley.
Courtesy photo
The Osburn Arts and Crafts Fair is just around the corner, but after the past few years, there was speculation that it may not happen again.
Fortunately for lovers of the yearly craft sale, local resident Ashlee Myles stepped up and decided that she was not going to let it die.
“Bambi McKay ran the fair since it started in 1981,” Myles said. “When she passed away the fair went to the Silver Valley Chamber, who ran it for the last few years.”
When the chamber decided that they just couldn’t divide up their time enough to give the fair the attention it required, they found a person who had the energy, creativity, and the willingness to put in the time.
“It’s been a lot of work and I totally understand how people didn’t have time to do this,” Myles said. “I have put in a lot of time into this and I can’t imagine trying to fit this in while planning other events at the same time.”
With the increasing presence of buying and selling arts, crafts, and other knick knacks on social media, finding a person who understood the necessity to reach those social media salespeople and bring them has been huge for the event.
Historically the event has filled the Silver Hills Elementary School building, as vendors lined the hallways and into the jam packed gymnasium, but lately the vendor attendance has been declining, which has led to poor attendance from customers, which has caused a vicious cycle.
“When customers aren’t showing up, the vendors aren’t going to come back,” Myles said. “With registration, and for some people, there is travel costs and lodging for the night, so for some people it can be around $200 just in overhead for the weekend and if they can’t make that back they aren’t going to want to keep coming back.”
Whatever Myles is doing is working though, as she currently has 70 registered vendors for the fair, compared to only 38 last year. But she isn’t going to brag, this event has a special place in her heart.
“I love the craft fair,” Myles said. “As a crafter it’s a great way for people to make extra money, as a customer it’s a fun place to find holiday gifts for friends and family. I can remember coming to the craft fair with my mom and looking at all of the cool things made by these amazing people and I couldn’t see that go away.”
Myles still has availability for any vendors who want to be a part of the November 4-5, event.
The craft fair will include handcrafted items, homemade jams, breads, pies, soaps, books by local authors, and much more.
For more information or to register, contact Ashlee Myles at (208) 512-0705 or by email at ashleemyles@gmail.com, or visit the Osburn Arts and Crafts Show Facebook page for more information.