Bellefonte Arts & Crafts Fair Celebrates 36th Year with Two Days of Fun

By Denise Snook
Bellefonte Arts & Crafts Fair Co-Director

This year marks the 36th year for the Bellefonte Arts & Crafts Fair. It will be held 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday on the streets of beautiful Victorian Bellefonte.

My husband, Steve, was a committee member for many years and took over as director in 2017, so this is his third year. I joined as a committee member the same year (2017) and then was the assistant director in 2018. This year, Steve and I are co-directors.

We are volunteers, along with 16 other community members who make up our committee. We meet and work year-round to make this successful event happen. In addition to the committee, we also have volunteers from the community who help during the event by working the information booth and those who serve as ambassadors. It’s wonderful to see how everyone can work together for the good of the community.

This event is for visitors of all ages. It’s a time for families to be together and enjoy all that our event has to offer.

This year we have 90 plus artists, which has us expanding the fair even further on the Allegheny Street side. In addition to many of our faithful returning artists, we are super excited that we have 40 plus new artists coming to our event, so if you think you’ve seen it all, you have not. Many of our artists are from all over the state of Pennsylvania, and some are from Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts and Virginia.

Each artist has their own unique form of art or craft — woodworking, jewelry, soap, photography, painting and those who make their own food products. There is too many to list them all, so you need to come and see for yourself the talent work of these artists.

This is a juried arts and crafts fair so artists must meet the requirements and submit an application, along with photos of their products, which is then reviewed by committee members. Requirements are that all items must be handmade and original products of the applicant; you cannot have any manufactured, buy and sell items, kits or precut components; and only items produced by the artist and approved by the jury committee may be sold at the fair.

We also have youth artists at the fair. These are youths between the ages of eight and 17 who design and make their own art and/or crafts. They have the option of setting up Friday or Saturday, or both days, so be sure to come both days to the fair, so you don’t miss out on these young artists’ tremendous talent.

There will be many children’s activities throughout the two-day event. The Bellefonte Arts & Crafts Committee offers free arts and crafts activities under the tent on the courthouse lawn on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Circus is this year’s theme. Face-painting will also be available on the courthouse lawn. In addition, the Centre County Library will offer free craft activities outside of the library on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

New this year will be Try Dye, which is an interactive craft activity that guides participants through the steps of making their own high-quality tie-dye creation. There is a fee for this activity and it will be on the courthouse lawn both days.

There will be 10 food vendors located in the food court near the post office which will offer a variety of food such as tacos, French fries, pierogies, pizza, funnel cakes, baked potatoes, roasted corn on the cob, hot sausage, shaved ice and more.

The fair always has some great musical entertainment and a variety of genres. The stage is located in front of the Centre County Courthouse.

The Bellefonte Arts & Crafts Fair is affiliated with Historic Bellefonte Inc. and the Central Pennsylvania Convention & Visitors Bureau.

PARK FOR FREE

Organizers of the annual Bellefonte Arts & Crafts Fair are encouraging visitors to take advantage of the free parking offered at the Bellefonte High School. There, visitors can board a shuttle and be transported to the event, free of charge. There are three stops: West Bishop Street, South Spring Street and East Howard Street. The shuttle runs from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

FOOD VENDORS

Those needing to fuel up before or during the annual Bellefonte Arts & Crafts Fair have plenty of options to satisfy their hunger.

• Bob’s Concessions — Roasted corn on the cob, loaded baked potatoes, grilled cheese sandwiches on Texas toast, chocolate-dipped bananas, breakfast sandwiches and hot and cold drinks;

• Bob’s Funnel Cakes — Funnel cakes and cold drinks;

• Brazilian Munchies — Brazilian meals and snacks including gluten-free cheese puffs, yucca fries, Brazilian beef stew and Picanha steak;

• Brothers NY Style Pizzeria — Pizza, hot dogs, soda and water (located outside Brothers Pizza on Allegheny Street);

• Jerry Snyder Concessions Inc. — Hot sausage, cheesesteaks, hamburgers, hot dogs, gyros, salads, tea and soda;

• Kendra Snyder Concessions LLC — Soft and hard shell tacos, walking tacos, taco salads, nachos and cheese, bottled soda and water and tea;

• Miller’s Tropical Sno — Hawaiian shaved ice (50+ flavors);

• The Nutty Bavarian — Cinnamon-glazed nuts, almonds, cashews and pecans;

• Rick Snyder Concessions Inc. — French fries, soda, bottled water and fresh lemonade and orangeade; and

• Rosie’s Pierogies — Pierogies (regular, bacon and jalapeno), haluski, soda and water.

ENTERTAINMENT