26th Annual Appalachian Craft Fair
at Holy Trinity Church in Sherman
Holy Trinity Parish is excited to be celebrating the 26th Anniversary of our annual Appalachian Craft Fair. Our Craft Fair is not just your typical craft fair, it is truly an opportunity to ‘Help Others Help Themselves.’ For over 25 years, our parish volunteers have been working hard to help artisans and crafters, located in some of our country’s most improvised areas (most recent statistics show poverty levels in the Appalachian Region of the states we reach are between 18.1% and 25.2%, which are still well above the National avg of 15.6%*) find a marketplace for their crafts.
The Appalachian Craft Fair was a direct results of someone seeing a need and figuring out a way to solve it. While on a trip to deliver donated clothing and household items, Parishioners, Mary McKeon and Christine McDermott, witnessed not only the impoverished conditions experienced by many of the people in this Region, but she also saw how wonderfully talented these crafters were. They thought their beautiful crafts would sell well in our area…and year after year, they have!
Appalachia has an excellent reputation for quality crafts and our fair showcases the variety of crafts the Appalachian people produce. Traditional hand woven baskets and stools, hand quilted bed quilts, table runners and placemats, dolls, wooden utensils and toys, stained glass, hand thrown pottery, jewelry and more, continue to be very popular with the Fair’s loyal customers. While there will be plenty of old favorites, and we are very excited to offer some new treats too! There is literally something for everyone and every budget. Also, what makes this fair so unique and special, is your ability to make a direct impact on someone’s life. As you shop, you might be helping a crafter to send a child back to school in new shoes and clothing or help an older child on the road to a college education, which would probably be otherwise unavailable to him/her or in the case of some of the older crafters, the proceeds of the sales of their craft items are often used to buy heating oil, make needed home repairs or cover hearing aids, prescription eye glasses, dental work or some vital need not covered by their Medicare insurance. As has been the tradition from the very beginning of the Appalachian Craft Fair, 100% of all craft sale proceeds are returned to each Crafter!
The success of this fair is a direct result of your generous support, so please come and see what we have for sale and read about our very talented Crafters. Thank you!
The fair dates are Friday, July 8th (Noon – 6:00 PM), Saturday, July 9th (10:00 AM – 6:00 PM) and Sunday, July 10th (Noon – 5:00 PM) at Holy Trinity Church, Routes 37 & 39, Sherman, Connecticut.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at: appcraftfair@gmail.com
*statistics from the Appalachian Regional Commission for 2010 – 2014 www.arc.gov
