PO‘IPU — Shoppers wanting an early start on holiday shopping got to select from at least six different craft fairs Saturday. “This is a record-breaker,” said Marissa Sandblom of Grove Farm, coordinator of the Grove Farm Swap Meet. “We had
PO‘IPU — Shoppers wanting an early start on holiday shopping got to select from at least six different craft fairs Saturday.
“This is a record-breaker,” said Marissa Sandblom of Grove Farm, coordinator of the Grove Farm Swap Meet. “We had 88 registered vendors and the crowd has been nice throughout the day.”
At 88 registered vendors, including a number of new people coming out, this was one of the biggest events. At the Artisan Fair in Po‘ipu, Judy Webb, the coordinator at that event, said she limited her offering to 40 vendors, while Debbie Yanagihara, coordinator of the Sheraton Kaua‘i Resort Craft Fair, said she had 26 vendors, one coming in just on Friday night.
Tina Brun, noting the St. Raphael’s Church Craft Fair had no chairperson, just a lot of “slippahs,” said they had eight vendors, but the big attraction was the church’s country store offering and the silent auction.
“We put a lot of plants in pots because we knew we were going to have this event, and potted plants always sell,” Brun said.
At all of the events new vendors and exhibitors popped up, a schedule of future appearances in their hands.
“We normally sell at Art Night in Hanapepe, but this is the first time we’re trying this,” said Debbie Barklow of Inspiring Images. “We had the mayor at Friday night’s Art Night, and somehow, when I called, Debbie said there was this spot.”
Yanagihara said one of the new vendors at the Sheraton event was the Waimea High School Jr. ROTC program, selling packages of Chinese pretzels.
“We made 400 of them, and we’re almost sold out,” said Branden Gatioan, a senior, who was manning the table with Angelia Tran.
Doug Nelson, who was manning a booth for his son Matthew, is no stranger to the holiday shopping, making an appearance last Sunday at the Courtyard by Marriott Kaua‘i at Coconut Beach event where he was helping the music fest hosted by the Kapa‘a Middle School ‘Ukulele Band and Chorus. He was a newcomer to the Sheraton fair.
Yanagihara said she was more than happy to accommodate the school, and is trying to think of more ways to help school groups.
Raylene Gampon, a parent with Girl Scout Troop 2150, said they owe a debt of gratitude to the Sheraton Kaua‘i, which provided three rooms for the troop’s Mom and Me camp this weekend.
Gampon was helping her daughter’s troop with crafts for the King Kaumuali‘i Elementary School Craft Fair coming up Saturday, while daughter Isabel and other Girl Scouts practiced with Kalaheo School’s Sunshine Express, Saturday.
Sandblom said the Grove Farm Swap Meet also featured some new community organizations seeking to fundraise, including the Waimea High School robotics program and the Easter Seals, which has been with the swap meet since it started.
New to the Saturday event was Boy Scout Troop 133 out of Kapa‘a with Scoutmaster Mike Kano, some groups fundraising for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, the Excel Dance Studio featuring Sponge Bob bars, and the Koloa School robotics program.
Kathy Schlesselman of Kat’s Knacks was brand-new to the retailing scene on Kaua‘i, offering an assortment of hand-crafted clay pieces with the Christmas theme.
Schlesselman was one of the eight new vendors appearing at the Sheraton fair, while at the Artisan Fair Dane Grady made the trip in from the North Shore with his specially-rigged underwater camera and an assortment of photographs.
But for Amy Christmas, a member of the Kaua‘i Made program and one of the Artisan Fair vendors, she is no stranger to the craft-fair circuit, having made the rounds for the past several years. With a name like hers it’s Christmas the year-round.
• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
