The Moab Arts and Recreation Center is hosting its annual Holiday Craft Fair on Dec. 6 and 7. The event is all indoors—tables decked with pottery, paintings, knitted items and other handmade goods will fill the MARC and invite shoppers to browse while chatting with neighbors, friends and local artisans.
Sascha Steinberg, administrative assistant at the MARC, has worked with about thirty-five vendors who have signed up to participate. All items for sale must be handmade and, while vendors pay a fee for their table, all proceeds from sales beyond that go to the makers of the items.
Many of the vendors are local and will be familiar to Moab residents; some travel from as far away as Colorado and New Mexico to display their work at the event. Steinberg added that there are many first-time craft fair participants on their vendor list this year, so even long-time fair attendees will find something new to admire.
Emma Tucek works at Canyonlands Field Institute as a naturalist guide. She has been making ceramics at Desert Sun Pottery Studio and the MARC event will be her first time selling her items at a craft fair.
“I’m excited to be involved in the community of artists in the Moab area as I begin to make it my home,” Tucek said.
Her pieces are mostly functional items, like mugs, “inspired by her first summer in the desert.”
Shoppers can also count on old favorites to be among the vendors. Emily Stock is the owner of Sundial Medicinals, which sells handmade herbal medicines and body care products. She has hosted a table at the Holiday Craft Fair at the MARC every year since 2013 and will be at this year’s event with her regular line of tinctures and teas.
“I usually do some special local discounts and gift bag discounts,” Stock said, adding that this year she will also have a “broth booth” where customers can select their own ingredients to create a medicinal or immune-supportive mix of herbs.
Stock will also have herbal chocolate balls at her table, which she says are “a craft fair exclusive.”
Stock’s most popular items are tonics and teas to fend off respiratory illnesses, and a “bedtime sedative and nerve restorative formula” called Mellow Me.
“All of the formulas are ones that I’ve made for myself or for family members that have needed them, and they’ve become staples,” she said of her tinctures.
Stock looks forward to seeing what other vendors bring to the fair.
“It’s really cool because there are so many people that sell that aren’t in the normal local marketplace, who maybe make stuff just for the craft fair, or people who travel from other places to be there,” she said. “I really like the variety of this fair in particular.”
If you swing by to check out the wares, expect a couple of food vendors and classic holiday tunes on the sound system. Santa Claus will take time out of his busy schedule to attend the fair all day on Saturday. Parents can get photos of their children with Santa as kids give him their Christmas lists.
A local children’s choir will also be dropping in to sing some carols.
Steinberg is also looking forward to attending the Holiday Craft Fair.
“My co-workers always say they spend way too much money!” she said.
“I really like the variety of this fair in particular.”
– Emily Stock
Local and visiting artists sell at the annual Holiday Craft Fair
Where: Moab Arts and Recreation Center, 111 E. 100 North
When: Friday, Dec. 6, and Saturday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: Free
For more information, go to www.moabrecreation.org
