‘Spring-tacular’ craft fair coming to Mt. Pleasant

After Wendy Mather closed down her antiques shop in Mount Union, she and her friend Sarabeth Carter came up with plans to sell the remaining inventory. That plan has snowballed since then, however, into a vendor show at the VFW Hall in Mt. Pleasant this weekend.

“I thought about all this stuff I had in my store, and what am I going to do with it,” she said. “I decided to start doing this vendor show … and it just got bigger than I was really expecting.”

The show will include eight vendors, a number Mather said she hoped to drive up at future shows.

“It’s not as many as we were hoping, but this is our first time,” she said. “We have others that couldn’t make it, that will make it (when) we’re hoping to have another one in June.”

The show runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 19 and noon to 6 p.m. on March 20. It stands in contrast to most craft shows in the area, which tend to run later in the year.

“We both have been vendors at shows and like going to them but most of what we have been to are small and in the fall and winter months,” said Sarabeth Carter, co-organizer of the event. “We hope to be able to bring more and larger vendor shows to the area.”

Mather said she had long been intrigued by craft fairs.

“I love doing this, I started thinking about doing it before I even opened my store,” she said. “I love planning things … so when I thought about what I’m going to do with all this stuff in my shop, I talked to Sara and she said, ‘Well let’s just make it a vendor show,’ and I was surprised how many people were interested.”

There are no plans to stop the shows in the coming seasons.

“We want to do one in June and September and the first of December, before Christmas,” Mather said. “We’re looking forward to it, it’s exciting to have it coming up so soon.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com