Cheyenne County Community Center hosts craft fair

Amongst the wind and winter cold, the Cheyenne County Community Center was the site of the second annual Christmas Craft Fair and Bazaar, Saturday.

All handcrafted art filled the community center room as shoppers and vendors buzzed. Buyers asking how the creator used their skills to produce such cute ideas, while the creators began blushing and responding in detail.

Crafts ranged from Hello Kitty hats to knitted Cornhuskers apparel.The tiny loops in every crotched scarf that filled the tables just as identical as the rest. Wooden snowman worehand-painted smiles full of holiday cheer. Jams and honeys came in abundance. If you got close enough to the taste trials you could almost smell the sugar in the air. Chocolate truffles and cookies gleamed in the eyes of sweet-tooth lovers. The shimmering Christmas balls in homemade wreaths caught the attention of most that passed by.

Kiersten Richards event coordinator and activity director at the community center started the craft fair and bazaar a year ago after some members of the community asked for a craft event to be created in the area.

Twenty-one vendors participated in this year’s craft fair, Richards said. Vendors are from around the local panhandle, the furthest vendor driving in from Scottsbluff.

Richards said that one of the benefits of requiring that everything sold at the fair be handcrafted is that customers could take the product home with them.

“It’s instant gratification. They get to take the product home instead of having to order it,” said Richards, who also holds a home-based business fair in November.

“This encourages people to shop locally instead of leaving town, and to see what we do have to offer locally,” Richards said.

Kathi Roten, a vendor who has been perfecting her craft for about eight years, said that this is her second year selling her creations at the community center and that weather permitting, she will be back next year.

Roten sells jean quilts, bags, purses, Christmas stockings and other jean miscellaneous items like little zipper bags.

“I had some old jeans that I couldn’t wear anymore. So I took them apart and made my first quilt; I got hooked,” Roten said.

Another vendor Patsy Yager, creator of Patz Dezigns, started her craft for a different reason.

Yager, who has always knitted, began making multiple hats in August after her niece asked her to make one for her.

Yager said that she enjoys coming to the shows and gets all of her Christmas shopping done at these sorts of bazaars.

“It’s really fun doing the shows like this. You get to meet a lot of different people. It’s fun to watch the kids try them all on,” Yager said.

One vendor, Amanda Tafolla, said that the reason she creates her art is because it is her passion.

“I’ve been painting my whole life. It’s not about the money; it’s that a piece of my art is in somebody’s home,” Tafolla said.

Tafolla calls her pieces “scrapart” and sells them under Cherry Sun Artistry.

Tafolla said that she comes to these craft fairs not only to sell her art but also to be a part of the community.