PORT TOWNSEND — Two holiday crafts fair will offer Jefferson County residents opportunities this weekend to buy handmade holiday gifts and benefit local food banks at the same time.
The 25th annual Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Saturday at the Port Townsend Community Center, 620 Tyler St.
In Quilcene, the ninth annual Holiday Crafts Fair and bake sale is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Quilcene Community Center, 294952 U.S. Highway 101.
Both events feature area artists and craftspeople selling one-of-a-kind items.
“You get a handmade product, not something that you would find in a store,” said Donna Harding, president of the Port Townsend Arts Guild, who has run the juried arts and crafts fair since its beginning in 1990.
“The artist makes it, you can add a custom design, it will last a while and the artist stands by their work.”
Dora Whittaker, the organizer of the Quilcene event termed the fair the first chance for people to do their holiday shopping.
“The prices are reasonable, so anyone without a lot of money can get a handmade gift,” she said.
The size of the events represents the respective communities.
The Port Townsend fair will feature 56 vendors located in three rooms, including the community center’s gymnasium, while Quilcene will host 20 vendors in a single room.
Both benefit food banks, with Port Townsend supporting the local facility and Quilcene passing funds — and canned food brought by participants— to Quilcene, Coyle and Brinnon food banks.
“When we started this fair, we knew there was a need,” Whittaker said.
“The people down here don’t live near a Safeway or a QFC where they can shop, so access to food becomes very important.”
Harding’s motivation is more personal.
“I saw this as a way for me to pay the food bank back,” she said.
“When I was eight months pregnant, my husband lost his job and the food bank helped a lot until he got another job.”
There are no fundraising goals but the numbers in mind are $1,000 in Quilcene and $2,600 in Port Townsend, the amount raised for the Port Townsend Food Bank at the annual fair in 2014.
In Quilcene, each vendor pays a booth fee and the bulk of the funds are raised through raffles.
In addition to a booth fee, Port Townsend craftspeople contribute 5 percent of their gross sales, Harding said.
Also in Port Townsend, fair-goers can paint and buy bowls from the Community Bowl Project, which benefits the food bank.
In Port Townsend, in addition to arts and crafts, local student musicians will perform downstairs in the gym.
In Quilcene, photos can be taken with Santa in a vintage sleigh.
Also in Quilcene, in addition to the fair, starting tonight until Saturday, Jan. 9, holiday lights can be viewed between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. behind the Josephine Campbell Building, 294963 Highway 101.
The events run on volunteers and local organizations. The 4H Club has a presence in Port Townsend and the Boy Scouts are essential to the Quilcene event, according to Whittaker.
Both Whittaker and Harding said that most attendees are local but they draw people from around the region because “there are people in Seattle who want to come and see what the local people are doing,” Whittaker said.
“When we started we had no idea what we are doing,” Whittaker said.
“I’m not sure we know what we are doing now, but we do raise some money.”
For more information about the Port Townsend event go to www.porttownsendartsguild.org, phone 360-774-6544 or email ptartsguild@yahoo.com.
For information about the Quilcene fair, see http://tinyurl.com/PDN-quilcene-fair.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
