Welcome to our new web site!

To give our readers a chance to experience all that our new website has to offer, we have made all content freely avaiable, through October 1, 2018.

During this time, print and digital subscribers will not need to log in to view our stories or e-editions.

Craft Fair offers handmade items for the holidays

Posted

Las Cruces residents Judy Bixby and Gloria Cobos have joined forces to host a craft fair, offering a range of handmade items just in time for the fall and winter seasons.

The event allows customers to “shop early, shop easy” and takes place 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12 at the Las Cruces Lion’s Club, 1501 N. Solano Drive.

“We invite the community to come out and have lots of fun and see people and get ideas to try for themselves,” Cobos said.

The fair will have nearly 30 vendors selling woodwork, stained glass, jewelry, handmade crosses, greeting cards, photo frames, magnets, candles, soaps, decorative tiles, garden art, paintings, photos, knitted and crocheted items, Christmas ornaments and more.

Prices range from 5 cents to $50.

“The only rule we have is that people can only sell handmade items,” Cobos said.

While the vendors focus on selling crafts, the Lion’s Club will offer food.

Cobos and Bixby, both with a history in craft making, will also have items for sale. Cobos will offer a selection of jewelry, including Christmas and Southwest-themed earrings, beaded bracelets and necklaces.  

“I’ve been making those pieces for a very long time,” Cobos said. “I’ve lived [in Las Cruces] since 1979 and have been participating in craft shows for all those years; I do at least two to three shows a year.”

Bixby, who moved here in 1984, crafts windchimes from bottles and birdhouses from gourds, as well as Christmas ornaments.

“My mother was a crafty person and I guess I inherited that from her,” Bixby said. “I’ve participated in various craft fairs throughout the years, but this is the first time I’ve gone out with someone and rented a building and hosted a craft fair.”

Cobos, a retired Gadsden School District teacher, and Bixby, a retired nurse, met through Senior Amigos (formerly Senior Circle), a MountainView Regional Medical Center program for individuals age 50 and up.

“They used to have a craft fair every year and we were both involved in that,” Bixby said. “That organization no longer does craft fairs, so we just decided to team up and do one on our own.”

Cobos and Bixby said if all goes well, they hope to make the Craft Fair an annual event.

“Hopefully we will get a lot positive input from both the vendors and customers, so we can do it again,” Bixby said.

A future event seems promising as the pair has already made connections with vendors.

“It’s been lots of work but we both shared it,” Cobos said of putting the fair together. “…We even have a waiting list; we have [vendors] who called in too late and we don’t have enough space for any more.”

Everyone who visits the Craft Fair will receive a free raffle ticket.

“We’re going to have a door prize raffle every hour for all the people who come out,” Cobos said.

For more information, call Bixby at 575-522-6543 or Cobos at 575-649-0436.

Alexia Severson can be contacted at alexia@lascrucesbulletin.com.


X