A few years ago when I was actually trying to sell my artistic creations I was told I needed to attend the Annual Craft Fair in Jaffrey because it was large enough to get ample foot traffic worth my time but I am afraid that October-December are the craziest few months out of the year for me and I never made it. So this year I showed up as a buyer! And blogger…

Granted part of the reason I wanted to go was to say hello to some of the venors I knew so I was delighted to wear this T-shirt there with a pair of metallic silver bellbottoms – because I was feeling punderfully festive, like a Hershey’s Kiss!

Right off the bat I was impressed by how many people showed up. Parking was scarce and terrifying (terrifying because I wasn’t the one doing the parking but I digress…) Although the place was obscenely poorly marked. I knew which building the auditorium was from going to school there but how people out-of-the-know were supposed to find the correct entrance for the craft fair was a mystery to me. No signs, anywhere.

Still the auditorium was packed with vendors and they were quite diverse! I mean there was the usual tsunami of knitting, crochet, and soaps, but there were also photographers, wood crafters, wreaths, stabby-stabby knives, and all sorts of holiday fun. And everyone was super cheerful. I even found some knitting I felt was on par – this sweet little plaid baby sweater – knitted by the vendor’s son whose wife taught him how to knit. LOVE THAT. I’ve used knitting in the past as a substitute for fidgeting and well… I think more people should be encouraged to do this, especially men because there are so few male knitters out of there – despite it being the perfect thing to do for an analytical brain.

I also found these weird little sock monkeys and these… uhm…. probably not haunted at all dolls. My mother liked them. She would.

By the time we got to the back of the auditorium another vendor told us there were two more fully packed rooms, one downstairs and the other in the “exercise room” in the other building. Again, there were only a few signs with arrows pointing to nowhere. I literally had to follow another crowd out of the auditorium and over to the high school through the rain and then AROUND that building to some unmarked side entrance I’d never noticed before despite going to school there for four miserable memorable months.

And low and behold this is where all the interesting vendors were – the truly creative ones. Among them was a guy selling birdhouses covered with seeds – I guess the bird version of a gingerbread house. And my favorite a woman who was frequenting local cemeteries so she could take impressions of the designs on the slate stones and use them for her jewlrey. Loved the idea! But alas I don’t do jewelry and don’t really know anyone who does or else I would have totally bought one off her.

Also in this building were a few kids desperately trying not to make eye contact as they took donations for Destination Imagination. Bless their awkward little creative hearts! I gave them ten bucks. I had been in Odyssey of the Mind, the predecessor of Destination Imagination, in my youth and it was really the only positive thing I remember about my entire public schooling career. I also bought some raffle tickets from the women’s club and was delighted to find a local author here as well. So I came home with this adorable children’s book to add to my collection. It must have been the only book she sold all day because she seemed shocked I was buying it. All the better!

Hilariously I got a compliment on the way in from across the parking lot by a student, “LOVE the hair!” (which is also Conant colors.. pure coincidence) and on my way out an even sweeter compliment came from a woman talking to her toddler daughter, “That’s awsome, you know what else is awesome? Look at that chick’s pants!” In fact my fancy pants were quite a hit. Got no less than seven compliments. I’ll totally be wearing them out again.

And since I was a passenger today I got to snap a bunch of creepy photos while we stalked a mail truck home. It was a weirdly warm and damp day. Feels like May, not December! This may have contributed to the poor turn out at the fair this year, at least according to the vendors.