Twinkling lights, warm pecan smells, and crowds of people admiring the unique creations all encapsulate the Lakota East Winter Arts and Crafts Show. Each year the craft show offers an opportunity for artisans to show off their craft. This year the show ran from November 9-10. The craft show not only paints a picture of the artisans but of the strong community surrounding East.
Showcasing over 225 booths, vendors are given the opportunity to reach a large audience. Artisans of all types, from bakers, jewelry makers, to woodworkers are represented. Booths cover the school occupying Main Street, the main gym, upper gym, auxiliary gym, and the cafeteria.
East Parent Teacher Student Organization (PTSO) organizer Julie Horton was ecstatic about the turnout on the first day.
“4,200 people came through the doors [on Saturday] alone, actually that is what we can measure as only adults pay,” Horton told Spark.
Artisans come from all over Ohio, some come as far as Columbus.
The craft show is the largest East PTSO fundraising event, as it is the source for most of the year’s funding.The goal of the craft show is not only for profits, but building a community as well.
PTSO president Jessica Heralds admires the community around the event more than anything.
“I am so proud of everybody the way everybody comes together from the students to the adults to administration,” Heralds told Spark.
PTSO volunteer coordinator Ashley Smith-Schoettkuer told Spark the East craft show is “consistently a really well regarded elite show in terms of the quality of the crafts hasn’t changed about the show.” Smith-Schoettkuer described how the craft show has been a part of her life since she was in eighth grade, and now she is a part of organizing it. The craft show has been running since before East and West split apart in 1997.
The craft show takes months of planning. Throughout all aspects, the four PTSO advisors of this event detail that some of them start as early as the next month after the craft show ends. From raising awareness of the need of volunteers to selecting vendors to setting up the space, more goes behind the scenes of this craft show than customers realize.
“Craft show planning is more of a 10 month kind of an adventure for those of us running all of those aspects,” said Heralds.
Selection process is also a large part of planning to go into the craft show, as their selection process is slim. This year 25 new vendors were accepted. Due to the volume of applications the PTSO on average rejects half of the applications, according to Lauren Dunbar, Co-Treasurer of the PTSO.
Owner of Vintage Rooster Mercantile, Alex Keeler, repurposes old wood in order to create unique pieces of hand painted art. Keeler has had her business for nine years and she has been at this craft show for eight of those. This is one of her biggest showcases of the year. Keeler said she loves the Lakota East craft show, and it has been profitable for her business.
A new vendor at the winter craft show is owner of Amethyst Lane, Diane Clark . She makes gourd birdhouses, bowls, baskets, and bourbon pecans. Clark has been creating and selling for eight years now. She has applied multiple years for the craft show, and was just accepted this year.
“[I love the] comradery of all the vendors, because we are kind of all in it together,” Clark told Spark.
Chocolate chip muffins, aroma filled candles, dazzling earrings: these are just a few of the items that were sold in the halls of Lakota East during the craft show. Another Lakota East PTSO craft show has wrapped up, and with their success, more student activities will be funded for the 2024-25 school year.
