As organiser of the Shefford Community Festival, one of the things I am most proud of is the way we have provided a stimulus and a platform for other people to organise things that benefit the whole community. This year featured an innovation in the form of a new craft fair. It was held at the STMA and we have heard many good things about this event.
It was set up by Lesley Whiteman who also runs the annual Garage Sale Trail and has experience promoting large Mind Body Spirit Festivals, and many other local events. Explained Lesley “the craft fair went really well so we are now planning a Christmas fair to promote our local crafters and enable Shefford people to buy their Christmas presents locally, direct from the creator!”
When our readers see this issue the Christmas Craft fair will be over, but at the time of writing it’s advancing well, nearly fully booked with stallholders, and looks set to be even more successful than the September fair – which had 21 stalls offering jewellery, handmade soaps, aroma milk baths, ceramics, pottery, candles, reed diffusers, hand-made bags, healing crystal lamps, marinades & sauces, artwork/paintings, decoupage and more. The STMA team headed by Sam are being really helpful and visitors seem to appreciate the adjacent bar.
One stallholder commented “it was a well-supported fair with a good number of visitors” whilst several visitors and stallholders asked about future fairs – so we asked Lesley for more information and she told us that there are more craft fairs planned, as well as pre-loved sales to address the needs of families in this difficult economic climate.
If you’re interested in exhibiting at, or visiting future events, Lesley can add you to her email list if you contact her at [email protected]
Ian Deavin – Community Festival organiser
