JEROMESVILLE — Hillsdale High School kicked off the holiday season Saturday with its 45th annual Arts & Crafts Festival.
Shoppers and vendors, many of them former students, flocked to the high school, forming rows throughout the gym, down the halls and inside classrooms.
“People look forward to seeing each other every year,” said Hillsdale Spanish teacher Scott Griffin. “It’s a hub for the community. Everybody knows about the craft show.”
Griffin, who has headed up the festival for the past eight years, said Saturday’s event hosted 25 more vendors than last year.
Among the vendors was the Thompson family. Ashley Thompson marketed rustic wood snowmen on one end of the table while her mother-in-law, Gayle, displayed jewelry on the other. Sandwiched between them was 10-year-old Alyssa Thompson, selling her own wares.
“I made these ones and these ones, and my grandma made these,” she said as she pointed to the necklaces and bracelets on display.
Some had dog tags with a rainbow of awareness ribbons. Others were decorated with colorful beads and letters that spelled out “courage” or “fight.”
Thompson smiled wide as she greeted her customers and stowed her earnings in a pink Hello Kitty tin.
She eagerly told each customer that half of her sales would go to the Ashland County Cancer Association, a non-profit that provides cancer patients in Ashland County with financial, nutritional, emotional, and educational support.
Her grandmother Gayle is currently fighting cancer.
The Taft Elementary fourth grader has been making jewelry since she was seven, and hopes to start her own business so she can raise more money to help patients pay for treatment.
A couple of rows away, David and Adora Kindig of A & D Designs sold necklaces, earrings and bracelets made of wire and natural stones.
“Ever since I could remember I would collect stones,” said David Kindig.
He learned to make jewelry at a special session of the Richland Lithic and Lapidary Society, a club for gem, stone, crystal and earth science enthusiasts.
Kindig has attended a couple of craft shows, but his favorite part of the process is hunting for stones. He’s traveled to Michigan, Arizona, New York and even the Dominican Republic.
“You’re searching and searching through the ground and when you find a piece that’s really nice, there’s an excitement there,” he said.
“My house is full of rocks,” his wife Adora said with a laugh. “Every shelf, every cubby hole, the front porch, the back porch.
Although the show boasts lots of new vendors, many veterans also returned to set up shop. The array spanned from Christmas decorations and knitted hats to made-from-scratch dog treats and chocolate covered pretzels.
Cathy Russell’s booth had a bit of everything: homemade dip mixes, salsa and pepper relish, handmade rugs and wooden knick knacks, and mouthwatering dessert breads like apple snickerdoodle and chocolate chip banana.
She’s been coming to the craft show for more than thirty years. Her favorite part is the people.
“They’re friendly,” she said. “They sit here and talk.”
