WASHINGTON — The Washington Chamber of Commerce’s Spring Craft Fair was a great success with good weather on Saturday, May 6.

The city’s Central Park was packed with more than 80 vendors who had set up shop to sell their unique wares. The craft fair attracted visitors and vendors from far and wide. Shae Fetters and Elise Snyder set up a booth to sell their crotched items, which included things such stuffed animals like mermaids, whales, and octopuses, as well as blankets, pot holders and rugs.

Fetters lives in Oskaloosa, while Snyder lives Grinnell. Fetters said she learned to crotchet in college four years ago. Snyder said she began crocheting as a hobby during the pandemic. The two women work together, and when they discovered that they both have a passion for crotchet, they decided to team up to sell their homemade creations.

Fetters and Snyder said they’re aware that crocheting tends to be more popular among the older generation, but they feel it’s coming back in style.

“It skips a generation,” Fetters said. “We’ve had a lot of older people tell us how their parents or grandparents crocheted.”

Ron Hall, who lives in rural Washington, set up a booth at the craft fair where he sold his homemade stained glass items. He displayed a few that had an Iowa Hawkeyes theme and others with an Iowa State Cyclones theme. He said he’s had this hobby the past four years, and that he learned to do it through a stained glass class at Kirkwood Community College.

“I’m retired, and this has been my retirement project,” Hall said.

Hall said stained glass is labor-intensive, and that it takes him about a week to complete a piece. He said he’s a naturally creative person, and that he’s made ice sculptures, too. He said he likes the instant satisfaction he gets once he’s done with a stained glass piece.

John Smith and his granddaughter Olivia Smith traveled to the craft fair from Moline, Illinois. John is a woodworker by trade, and now that he’s retired, he has turned his attention to making artisanal pieces out of wood, such as hot air balloons, birdhouses and more.

“This is my hobby, and it keeps me off the computer,” Smith said. “I spend about 20 hours per week on this.”

Smith said he’s planning to attend Indianola’s hot air balloon festival later this year.