BENTONVILLE -- Craft fair goers meandered between the rows of vendors at Spanker Creek Farm on Friday morning, occasionally stopping to browse items.
It was a perfect day. The sun shined without a cloud in the sky. The creek at the fair's entrance flowed tranquilly. It was 63 degrees at 10 a.m.
NWA Craft fairs
• Spanker Creek Farm Arts and Craft Fair: 8464 W. McNelly Road, Bentonville. Today, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Sharp’s Show of War Eagle: On War Eagle River off of Arkansas 303 and Arkansas 12, Rogers; Today and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Ozark Regional Arts and Crafts Festival: Northwest Arkansas Convention Center, 1500 S. 48th St., Springdale; Today, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Art on the Creek: 8862 W. McNelly Road, Bella Vista; Today, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Frisco Station Mall Arts and Crafts Festival: 100 N. Dixieland Road, Rogers; Today, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Source: Visit Bentonville
The location's scenery gives the fair a special atmosphere, said Patti Hyde, fair organizer. The nearly 100 vendors set up shop on the lush green field boarded by trees full of leaves. Attendees have to cross a small bridge over the creek to enter the fair.
"It's like a market in the park," she said.
This is the Spanker Creek Farm Arts and Craft Fair's ninth year. Hyde expects about 15,000 people to attend this weekend.
It's one of five craft fairs going on in Northwest Arkansas this weekend.
Vendors are a good mix of those who have come every year and those here for the first time, Hyde said. They come from around the country as far away as California and Minnesota.
Kay and Bill Goddard came from Columbia, Mo., to sell Papa Hart Pickles, "a sweet dill pickle with an attitude."
They've sold their pickles and jarred jalapenos at fairs and some retail locations in Missouri for about five years. This is the first time they've come to sell at an Arkansas fair, Kay Goddard said.
Her dad, who is "Papa," and brother opened a winery in Oklahoma, but wanted to offer something for people who didn't drink wine. Kay affectionately described her dad as a workaholic.
"I teach, and he didn't think I was working enough hours so he said, 'I think you need to start selling the pickles in Missouri,'" she said. "It's a fun thing to do. We have a lot of fun doing it."
Bill Goddard said he found the Spanker Creek fair online and spoke highly of the organizers.
"They are easy, good people to work with," he said.
The fair's organizers are one of the reasons Jody Latham and her sisters came to sell their refurbished decor and furniture, she said.
Latham and her sister own Not Too Shabby, and they share a space with their sister-in-laws, who own We've Been Framed. They are from Rogers and Bella Vista.
"We rescue, recycle and repurpose all types of furniture and decor," Latham said.
This is their fourth year to be a vendor at Spanker Creek. It's the only fair they do, as the sales are a hobby. They each have full-time jobs, Latham said.
Items are sold throughout the year on the business' Facebook page and in a show room at Latham Cabinets in Rogers on Saturdays, Latham said.
Dori Krumrei said she saw a lot of repurposed items at the fair, "which is good."
Krumrei and her mother-in-law, Sharon, waited at the fair's entrance for Dori's father and father-in-law to catch up. They had bags of freshly popped kettle corn in hand.
Dori Krumrei moved to Bella Vista from Arizona about a month and a half ago. She said she always went to street fairs in Arizona, and the Spanker Creek fair was similar.
"It's just about getting out and promoting the artists and to see what the latest trend is and who thought of what," she said.
NW News on 05/02/2015