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Washington Fall Craft Fair attracts all kinds of vendors
Local vendors and those from hours away find success at the 35th Fall Craft Fair
WASHINGTON — Well over 100 vendors set up shop throughout Washington’s square Saturday, Sept. 7 with crochet creations, delicious treats, unique clothing, and plenty of fall décor for the Washington Chamber of Commerce’s 35th Fall Craft Fair.
Chamber Director Michelle Redlinger’s assertion that word-of-mouth is a large contributor to the growth of this event proved true according to third-year vendor Silver Creek Creation’s Kelly Rasdon from Maquoketa.
Rasdon said she initially heard good things about the Washington Fall Craft Fair from a vendor at another event who said she did really well in Washington. So, three years ago, Rasdon made her debut with a variety of handmade signs and décor.
With the craft fair falling on the same day as the Iowa-Iowa State football game, Rasdon said they quickly sold out of many of their Iowa Hawkeye signs thanks to a good size crowd they’ve come to expect in Washington.
Rasdon’s sister, Angela Menneke, says she loves coming to this craft fair not just as a vendor, but also as a patron.
“This year, I walked through like two or three times and I find something different every time,” Menneke said as she excitedly showed off a marshmallow gun she found earlier in the day.
First-year vendor Lisa Montz, the Diamond Art Lady, felt plenty welcomed as she easily sold most of her self-designed diamond art kits well before packing up.
Montz started her journey with diamond when a friend from work showed it to her. She doesn’t just sell her completed diamond art creations, instead, she sells a solution to a problem she found when trying to create her pictures.
“This is really fun, but it’s really annoying that there’s these beads everywhere,” Montz explained. “So, I was wondering what do you do with them? And I thought, they should come in kits with containers, extra wax, and labels for the containers.”
So that’s what Montz did. She began to acquire pieces for these diamond art kits wholesale and put together not just a background, drill pen, and gems, but everything to make the craft more accessible. It wasn’t long after that, that she began to add her own designs to kits which were obviously well-received the Washington Fall Craft Fair.
Hillsboro’s Preppin’ Mama loves the opportunity to sell their freeze-dried different organic produce and candies at the craft fair, but mostly, the mother-daughter duo, enjoys seeing all the familiar faces.
From another local perspective, Amy Langr, who sells her crochet creations at the craft fair, loves to see the event bring in people from outside Washington, and her daughter Bethany Langr definitely enjoys chatting with a variety of people as she helps out her mom.
Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com
