While some locals queued across town to get electronic devices at lower prices than they otherwise might, the San Luis Obispo Veterans Memorial Building at 801 Grand Ave. bustled with the 35th Annual Central Coast Craft Fair.
Also known as the Central Coast Thanksgiving Weekend Fair, the organizers stipulate that all booths must offer hand crafted, or at least personally designed merchandise. With 138 booths this year, that also made them the largest holiday fair for hand crafted items on the Central Coast.
Several booths provided space for charity, including the Boy Scouts and a fundraiser to raise scholarships to send 6th graders to Camp Keep in 2017. Another youth organization sold crafts to support kids in the Imagination Destination contest – more information available at destinationimagination.org.
Other notable local crafters ranged from a young man making lip balms in a cooperative that was started as a school project to, From War To Peace, a vendor offering art and jewelry forged from disarmed and recycled minuteman missile systems.
The later, explained Sam Ogren, was a feat of negotiations with the Pentagon to obtain the metal, mostly copper wiring from the missile control systems that’s in government stockpile. Twenty percent of their profits go to peace and social justice organizations.
For more information on the fair and local vendors with gift ideas, go online to: californiacraftshow.com.
- Story and Photos by Camas Frank
