Published: March 19, 2009 12:26 am      

Festival drawing bigger Arts & Crafts Show

PALESTINE — With so much national focus on the current problems in the economy, local downtown merchants are looking forward to having several thousand potential customers walking past their doors Saturday during the 71st Annual Dogwood Trails Festival’s arts and crafts show. 

Jerry Fort, owner of Oak Street Village Shoppes at 201 W. Oak St., said Wednesday that he always welcomes the Dogwood Trails and Fall-Oktoberfest festivals because they increase traffic to his collection of antiques, hand-mades and collectibles vendors. 

“It brings a lot more people to the downtown area,” Fort said. “It’s great for my business. The type of business I have, the festival attracts those types of customers. The more the merrier, as far as I’m concerned.”

Rick Farris Jr., owner of Old Magnolia Shops at 120 W. Oak St., said that he likes to see the increase in business, but added that it does come with a price. 

“It’s a double-edged sword,” said Farris, who houses a coffee shop, restaurant and several small vendor spaces inside Old Magnolia. “It’s good for the influx of more people. With the increased (amount) of people brings more theft and you have to bring more employees in.” 

Still, it’s worth the effort, said Farris, who has live entertainment booked throughout the day in the coffee shop area.

“We’ve always been part of the festivals,” Farris said. “We look forward to it, but we want the crowd control, too.” 

The exposure pays off, Fort noted, an observation shared by other merchants. 

“You might think it’s competition but it’s not,” Fort said, explaining that the merchandise in his shop usually differs from what’s offered by festival arts and crafts vendors. “We have people come in, say they didn’t know we were here, and they do come back.” 

Palestine Area Chamber of Commerce executive director Kathi Masonheimer said she hopes that the increased number of vendors, and the quality of items to be on display, help drive more traffic to both vendors and merchants. 

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, 91 artisans had registered for booths at the arts and crafts show, including more than 40 new vendors, she said. 

Wares to be offered include wood sculpture; metal arts; clothing lines, including children’s apparel; custom-made baby products; hand-crafted jewelry; hand-made tin frames; and hand-made toys, Texas crafts, purses, soaps, jellies, jams potpourri and toffee. 

“What I’m excited about is that we were able to pick and choose because we had so many more applicants,” Masonheimer said. 

So many vendors have signed up that the arts and crafts area will overflow into Old Town on E. Crawford Street, she said. 

Seeing the quality of artisans signed up to show up has her excited about what festival-goers should find, she said. 

“My goal at the very end of this is all hand-made crafts,” Masonheimer said.