Reply #6: Arts & Crafts Fairs are booming [View All]

[Tansy_Gold]

Seriously, and especially at this time of the year.

These people are the heart and soul of entreneurial endeavor. They are the antithesis of Wal-Mart (even if a lot of them buy their supplies at the Big W). Whether you live in a major metropolitan area or a small town, you can probably check your local newspaper and find a craft show near you this very week-end.

It's not just the gifts and decorations -- the luxuries and frivolities we've taken for granted for so many years in this country. There are lots and lots of practical, useful, everyday items you can find made by hand in the good old US of A.

I have a friend who is a potter -- she and her husband make some of their own clays and most of their own glazes. They have a kiln in their backyard and have done some of the most exquisite cups and bowls in an ordinary campfire. A lot of their prices are lower than similar mass-produced imported crap.

My mother, almost 75, took up quilting a few years ago. Her quilts will, of course, be more expensive than one of those cheap things from China or Bangladesh, but they will be better made to last longer AND because they are more expensive, they will inspire their owners to take better care of them and make them last longer. In the long run, less expensive than the cheap imported crap.

Another friend is a woodworker. He started out buying exotic woods to make finely detailed jewelry boxes, but couldn't sell them for enough to cover the outrageous cost of the wood. So he started salvaging from storm damaged trees, construction sites, etc. His day job is currently threatened by imports; his jewelry box business isn't, because nothing compares.

Another friend, who lost her job after a car accident and whose disability payments would never have allowed her to remain independent, took a space at a permanent swap meet, where she sells hand-made greeting cards with her own poems. She worried to me a few weeks ago that her price of $2/card might be too steep, until I told her I had just priced an anniversary card for my son and daugher-in-law and it was $4.95!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- we can do better with less and we can buy better if we buy less. Maybe you'll think I'm an idealistic remnant of the 60s and 70s, and you'd be dead spot on, but you know what? We made some changes back then. Some real changes. We just have to pick up where we left off and pull a few more like-minded souls on the wagon.

Walk in peace and beauty,

Tansy Gold