BELLEFONTE — Music, arts and crafts will return to the streets of downtown Bellefonte for the 40th annual Bellefonte Arts and Crafts Fair on Friday and Saturday. The fair will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, with on-stage entertainment, artists, food vendors and hands-on activities for kids and adults.
To commemorate the 40th anniversary, past and present members of the fair committee shared highlights of the fair’s history, plus some innovative additions to this year’s fair.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE FAIR
“The original person that started the fair — it was held downtown — was Jerri Galadida Johnson,” said Dona Goldman, one of the first co-directors of the Bellefonte Arts & Crafts Fair. “The purpose was to bring people into our town to showcase Bellefonte and our history — our magnificent architecture. It started out very small. In the second year, Jerri, who was my friend, asked me to co-chair with her. The longer the fair went on, the more vendors we had. Eventually we turned it into a juried show.”
She got all her friends involved, including Toni Beigle, Dawn McKee and Nancy Dunn. “We started hanging banners on the street. Nancy Dunn was very creative. We got fabric and made strips. And I crawled up on a ladder on the light posts in Bellefonte and tied them around the light posts. Nancy would hold the ladder and I’d run up. Then I’d hold the ladder and she’d run up.”
She said 16-year-old radio DJ Tor Michaels broadcast from the fair all day on WBLF. They had entertainment from local bands, and fairgoers could enjoy food from local restaurants and Snyders’ pork sandwiches.
Retired school teachers Karen Baker and Susan Hardy Kline served as judges for the juried show. Louise Mason organized the volunteers who would sit in the artists’ booths while the artists took breaks. Gloria Horner, secretary of the Bellefonte Chamber of Commerce, helped them promote the fair.
When Goldman was president of Historic Bellefonte Inc., the fair became a subsidiary of HBI, to benefit from HBI’s nonprofit tax status.
“It was such a community thing. Everybody helped. I’m just so happy that this fair is continuing because it brings people into Bellefonte. I’ve been all over the world and there’s no place like Bellefonte. We have a wonderful town and very little crime. I can’t think of a better place to live.”
Toni Beigle joined the fair committee in the third year, after Johnson left the group. “I told Dona I’d be glad to help. Nancy Dunn was a huge contributor. It was not just the three of us. We asked others to do things.
“We used to have it the third weekend of August and now it’s the first weekend in August. We worked the entire year on the event. I probably did it 10 years, at least. We got our kids and spouses involved, got everybody involved with advertising, getting vendors, children’s activities, organizing setup and cleanup, someone to measure the spaces the night before and number them, and do paper work. Tom Wilson helped us with entertainment. We had a social at the Gamble Mill for artists and people working at the fair to get that camaraderie,” Beigle said. “Dona really was the driving force in getting people involved. Her husband owned the National Store, a clothing store in town.”
RECENT HISTORY
“The fair was held in Talleyrand Park from 2011 to 2017,” said Steve Snook, who is co-director of the fair committee with his wife, Denise. “It was moved back to the streets of downtown Bellefonte to where it originated for a couple reasons, to help bring customers to our downtown businesses, plus we were limited to the number of vendors we could put in the park and we wanted to grow. It was difficult for some of the vendors to get their items in the park since you couldn’t drive to all the booths. There were also issues with vendor parking and handicap accessibility to both sides of the park.
He said, “I took over as director in 2017, and then in 2018 Denise and I became co-directors. It’s become a family affair with our adult children, Kaitlyn and Brandon, helping to organize this event with us.”
The current fair committee has 17 members, according to the website Bellefontefair.org.
NEW AND NOTEWORTHY AT THE 2023 FAIR
Denise Snook said the Fair will host 95 adult artists plus two nonprofits from Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts and North Carolina. The food vendors are local. The musical lineup will include a variety of local favorites, including The Gabe Stillman Band, an award-winning blues band out of Williamsport, sponsored by the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau.
“We will have new awards this year,” she said, “one for each of the 12 art categories, which are Country Crafts, Fiber/Textile/Leather, Food Artisans, Glass, Jewelry, Metal, Painting, Photography/Digital Art, Pottery/Clay/Ceramics, Soap, Wood, General/Mixed Media. Awards will be announced Friday 5 p.m. at the stage on the diamond.
“We have added an Artists in Action section to the fair this year along Allegheny Street in front of Art a la Carte,” she said. “You can see some of the amazing art being made by some local artists and you can stop by Jabebo Studio’s booth and make some artwork.”
She said that hands-on crafts activities will be offered at the youth crafts tent on Howard Street both days from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and for children at the Centre County Library on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Bellefonte Arts Museum will provide a self-led craft activity both days from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“The Logan Fire Company will hold an open house at their firehouse, located at 120 E. Howard St., on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., so bring the kids to see the firetrucks,” she said.
FREE PARKING AND SHUTTLE AVAILABLE
“Parking is limited downtown so we strongly encourage people to park for free at the Bellefonte High School and take the free shuttle to the event,” she said. “Driver tips are appreciated. The two shuttle stop locations are Bishop Street at Allegheny Street and Spring Street at High Street.”
IN APPRECIATION
Denise and Steve Snook expressed their thanks to Sally Houser, president of Historic Bellefonte Inc., the fair committee and the volunteers for their help. “We couldn’t do it without them all these years, and we appreciate them so much.”
For more information about the Bellefonte Arts & Crafts Fair, visit bellefontefair.org.
