Craft fair to be held Saturday

By Phyllis Lehrer
Staff Writer

Published on July 11, 2008

The 28th annual Crafts on the Common will be held rain or shine from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday on the Amherst Town Common. Admission is free.

The fair, with 112 juried craft vendors, benefits the nonprofit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County, which serves 140 local children with 140 volunteers.

The waiting list numbers close to 150 and 80 percent of those waiting for mentors are boys.

Besides the craft vendors, the event includes a silent auction and a used children's book sale organized by children's author and illustrator Diane DeGroat.

The talent line-up includes: the Shakuhachi Society of Long River, Connotations, Janet Ryan and Ray Chaput, Paul Roche, Al Fuller, the Equalties and Stewart James and the Memphis Flyers.

Big Brothers is a United Way agency and hopes to raise $15,000 from booth rentals and the book sale to help with its $300,000 annual budget. The agency also sponsors a bowlathon in April and a December craft fair in Northampton. It receives funding from individual donors, human service organizations and government sources.

For information, call 253-2591.