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Make this one a craftastic holiday

'Tis the season to support your local bazaar, handmade market, or craft fair!

By Emily Anderson
Published: December 4th, 2008 | 4:50pm

Black Friday has come and gone, and you've probably only completed a fraction of your holiday shopping. Perhaps you're dismayed at the impersonal nature of another gift card or unhappy with the unethical practices related to distributing big box "doorbusters" on such a massive scale, or you simply like to save that much pushing and jostling and emotional blackmail for the actual holidays. But there's an easy, local solution to all your holiday shopping woes.

Over the last few years, the craft event industry has been expanding by leaps and bounds. "The Renegade Craft Fair started out in 2003 in Chicago, as a one-day event with 75 vendors," says Sue Daly, founder and organizer of Renegade. Since then, Renegade has increased their number of events and expanded to cities like Brooklyn and San Francisco. "Each event is now two days with close to 300 participating artists in our biggest fairs,” she says. “We're always looking for new cities to bring RCF too, with plans for L.A. next summer."

It's important not to confuse the craft event of today with boring county craft fairs of your youth. Gone are the crochet doilies — today's craft fairs cater just as much to your urban hipster as your old Aunt Gladys. Handmade items range from silk-screened gig posters to trendy knitwear, reconstructed clothing, and all manner of reinvented craft paraphernalia.

Alison Gordon, co-organizer of the Boston Bazaar Bizarre, believes her craft fair to be in every way superior to your usual retail alternatives. "This is our eighth year of running the Bazaar Bizarre,” she says. “It started out in 2000 as a small fair in a local VFW hall, and has grown to be a 150-plus vendor event! Our location is in the heart of downtown Boston, so we draw every type of shopper. Once they come in and see the quality and selection they can get from buying handmade, they come back year after year. Everyone has that one person to shop for that has everything, but you can certainly find them a gift at a craft fair."

Far away from the big cities, handmade is still making a comeback in a big way. In the historic, picturesque town of Madison, Georgia, Angela Nichols, Visual Arts Curator of the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center, has organized the very first "Hand.Craft.It. Exhibition, Handmade Market, and Music Festival."

"We plan on having 80 vendor booths, many hands-on activity booths for adults and children, live bands, as well as a refreshment stand for vendors and visitors,” Nichols says. “Besides a handmade market and live music, patrons have the ability to visit the museum's galleries and check out some of the best contemporary handmade crafts from around the world."

Two hours North, the Atlanta craft scene has come together around its own little nexus of craft heaven: the Indie Craft Experience, or ICE for short. Christy Peterson and Shannon Mulkey, co-coordinators of ICE, work hard to improve the event by importing and exporting talented crafters across state lines.

"Atlanta didn't really have much of an indie craft scene before the first Indie Craft Experience, except for Young Blood Gallery & Boutique. We've worked really hard to reach out to crafters from other cities by inviting them to participate and we go out and participate in shows in other cities to make sure The A-T-L is represented! We've now teamed up with Young Blood to help organize Kraftwork (a monthly handmade mini-market) and it has been amazing to see our local community grow a lot over the past few years."

Several things account for the recent boom of handmade goods. The first of course is the popularity of sites like Etsy, Buy Olympia, and other such Web stores, which serve as international hubs for crafters worldwide. Naomi Richardson, organizer of the Madison Craftacular in Madison, Wisconsin, weighs in. "Etsy has helped crafters everywhere,” she says. “It is not only a great way to sell merchandise, but also helps promote shows and is a super way to network with future vendors." Now in the fourth year of her event, Richardson has had to relocate to a larger venue, which can accommodate three times the vendors.

Another major factor in craft event appeal is consumer conscience. Tracy Parker, of the Minneapolis No Coast Craft-o-Rama says that the event made the decision to "go green" in 2008.

"Our flyers, postcards, programs, etc. were all printed on FSC-certified paper with soy based inks," says Parker. "The tees we sell at the sale are all organic cotton and this year we're debuting an eco-friendly tote bag made from Eco-Phab, a fabric made from recycled pop bottles by a local company called Banner Creations. We're also ramping up recycling efforts at the sale, encouraging public transportation and hoping to offset much of the carbon we used to plan the sale and run our website."

The decision couldn't have come at a better time. No Coast's holiday event, now in its third year, attracts roughly 8,000 shoppers. In the last few years, we've been made increasingly aware of the environmental impact of the goods we purchase. When you make the choice to shop local, you give your local community a financial boost, and significantly shrink your carbon footprint.

"Knowing the items you buy at craft fairs are handmade makes shopping such a different experience than at big box stores," says Nicholson. "The handmade market benefits local artists by giving them the opportunity to sell their wares directly. You're getting a gift that someone put a lot of time and pride into."

—

Upcoming 2008 Holiday Craft Events

Boston
Bazaar Bizarre
December 7, noon to 7pm

Chicago
Renegade Craft Fair
December 6 & 7, 11am to 7pm

Depart-ment
December 5, 7pm to 11pm
December 6 & 7, 11am to 5pm

Cleveland
Bazaar Bizarre
December 13, noon to 9pm
December 14, noon to 6pm

Los Angeles
Bust Holiday Craftacular
December 6, 11am to 6pm

Holiday Art Boutique
December 6 & 7, 11am to 6pm

Unique Los Angeles
December 13 & 14, 11am to 7pm

Madison, Georgia
Hand.Craft.It
December 13, 11am to 7pm

Madison, Wisconsin
Holiday Craftacular
December 6 10am to 6pm

Minneapolis, Minnesota
No Coast Craft-o-Rama
December 5, 3pm to 8 pm
December 6, 9am to 5 pm