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Thousands shop at crafts fair Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Mistletoe salespeople Jesse Carlini, 12, left, and Crete Randolph, 11, hocked their wares from atop a recycling box Saturday at the 20th annual arts and crafts show and sale at Southern Oregon University. The show continues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today in the Stevenson Union. SOU�s 20th show draws plenty of buyers By Dani Dodge ASHLAND � Sure, Janet Kahn loves to come down to Ashland to visit her daughter, Katie, a student at Southern Oregon University. But that doesn�t mean the Portland resident doesn�t have the occasionally ulterior motive. Like this weekend, for example. "I�m visiting my daughter who goes to Southern," Kahn said, shifting bulky bags between her arms. "But I also came down because I was here last year during the crafts fair, and I thought I�d come back and buy some presents, and things for myself." This weekend marks SOU�s 20th Christmas crafts show and sale. It continues at the Stevenson Union between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. today. On Saturday, thousands of eager buyers herded shoulder to shoulder past booth after booth after booth of jewelry, pottery and hand-crocheted finger puppets. There are nearly 140 crafts people and artists in the show. Each pays $60 for a booth, and the booths fill two floors of the Stevenson Union. The fees go toward running the Stevenson Union, said Carol Gies, director of student activities. The crafts show � now one of the largest in the Rogue Valley � began as a small show in the art gallery 20 years ago, Gies remembers. But over the years it�s grown so that now there are more people who want to show than spaces for them to show. The new venders are picked through a lottery system. Many people who were shopping Saturday said they consider the annual event a Christmas tradition. "We just always come every year," said Janice Robinson of Ashland, who was shopping with her 21-year-old daughter, Tammie Longiotti. "I think I�ve been coming here since it started." As Longiotti purchased some honey sticks from beekeeper Mike Curtis � a gift for her brother � she said that coming to the crafts fair is one of the ways that she and her mother get into the excitement of the season. "We just shop as we go and buy what stands out," she said. Some of the venders are people who work at their crafts year-round like Curtis, who also sells his honeys, candles and beeswax lip balm at farmers� markets. Others, like Sandy Denson, who had a display of jewelry and dog-biscuit shaped magnets with cute sayings such as "My other dog is a purebred" are only hawking the crafts they make in their spare time. "This is just a stress-reliever," said Denson, an account executive with a local cable company. Among the crafts people are fine artists like Lorene Senesac, whose elegant and thought-provoking ceramic sculptures at this show fetch up to $350. "At this show, more people buy my jewelry," she said. "I don�t expect to sell a lot of higher-end pieces, but people are getting exposed to my work." One Central Point couple learned quickly Saturday morning that cheap does sell at this crafts fair. Brenda Burt and Dan Crutchfield�s "Bear Creek moonlighters" had a big "SOLD OUT" sign on their table. They�d brought four dozen wreaths made with cranberries, leaves and ribbons that they sold for $3 and $5 each. "We sold four dozen in 20 minutes," Burt said, wrapping ribbon around another wreath (fortunately they brought supplies). "We are just working on this waiting list now." One of the people on the waiting list was Janet Kahn of Portland. She and her daughter had gotten to the cranberry wreaths just as they sold out at 10:20 a.m., so they signed up on the waiting list. Two and a half hours later, they were back to pick up the freshly made wreath. Kahn said she plans to put the wreath in her kitchen and give it some Christmas cheer. She and her daughter figured they spent a good $250 during the crafts shopping spree. Janet Kahn had a gorgeous quilt she was going to frame, and a pillow made out of antique fabric. She had tiny clay trees to put on packages and a ceramic leaf that could be used as an artistic candle holder. Only after two and a half hours, and picking up the wreath, did the mother-daughter duo think they might be done for the day. "We had to look at every booth," Kahn said. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.