The Arcola Craft Show, which has been active for 10 years, saw 54 vendors this year. Quite a leap from last year's 31 vendors.
Held the same weekend as Homespun, organizers and vendors of the Arcola Craft Show believe it is a symbiotic relationship.
"That helps we get the crowd that's going to Carlyle, right, and we advertise on the radio, we have a big billboard at Carlyle, in the newspaper so a bit of advertising helps too," Gwen Taylor, organizer, explained.
Overall Taylor was pleased with the number of vendors, which had jumped considerably due to the availability of space in the rink over the hall, and many attendees.
"It's a good crowd this year, everyone is happy. We're in the rink this year and I love it, there was a wedding booked in the hall, so they put us in here and I think we'll try again every year for it."
Though there were many new vendors, a few local regulars were happy to explain why they love to keep coming back.
Since, 1988, Eldon Piper of Fillmore has been creating works of art. He began creating when coming across scrap metal. With this he began shaping tin butterflies and successfully developed a love of creation, which is why he continues to attend craft shows.
"I started in 1988 [it] was the first year that I was at a craft sale and I've been to one ever since," Piper said.
"You don't make any money doing this, if you think you're going to make any money in this quit before you start, because there's no money in it. It's something to do, I worked all my life, I'm not a T.V. watcher, I can't sit still, so this is what I spend my time doing."
Piper now makes custom order wood crafts, which has become a passion and a reason for attending craft shows.
Laughing Piper explained, "I go to about five craft shows a year, just so I can get rid of my stuff and start over."
Local gardener and baker, Brenda Milligan of Arcola, with Prairie Belle's Kitchen thought this was a very successful year for the craft show and heard many vendors express their fondness of the rink over the hall.
"It's really nice [there's] way more space, it's really great," Milligan explained. "We've had lots of compliments that the lighting is good and there's lots of space to move around."
Milligan enjoys attending the local craft show and finds it a perfect time to share her love of baking with others.
"I've done this for a long time," Milligan stated. "I like baking, I really like baking and giving it away, selling it."
"I only do this in the fall when I have time after the gardens done because I'm a huge, huge gardener too."
Overall Mulligan is pleased to be able to attend each year and is thankful for the local craft sale, which gives her the opportunity to meet new people and share her love with others.
"It's good I like it," she said. "I like coming here, the people are good and it's so interesting to see all the people!"
Another local vendor found at the Arcola Craft Show was Sandra and Vernon Lamontagne of Wawota. V + S Gardening maintains a large garden and can all sorts of food from jam, to pickles, and relish.
"We enjoy it [coming to the craft show]," Sandra explained. "We do the barn at the lake all summer too."
"We also hold a sale every Friday in our own quonset in Wawota until Christmas."
In all the Arcola Craft Show had a very successful 10 year anniversary this year, and vendors as well as shoppers are already looking forward to next year's event.
