PORT TOWNSEND — About 50 vendors will set up shop today and Saturday during the 26th annual Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair.
The fair, organized by the Port Townsend Arts Guild, will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days at the Port Townsend Community Center, 620 Tyler St.
The event is free and open to the public.
The arts guild is a self-supporting nonprofit arts organization that offers arts scholarships to Jefferson County students majoring in the arts.
A portion of the proceeds from each vendor will benefit the Jefferson County Food Bank and art scholarships offered by the arts guild, said Donna Harding, Port Townsend Arts Guild chair.
“We take off 5 percent of all the sales that each artist makes,” she said.
In 2015, $2,600 was raised for the local food bank, Harding said.
Additionally, up to $3,000 in scholarship money is awarded to about four or five Jefferson County high school students annually, she said.
The artists participating in the fair come from all over the Pacific Northwest, Harding said.
Handwoven rugs and clothing will be featured along with gold and silver jewelry set with semi-precious gems, leather belts, purses, photography, sculptural jewelry, etched glass art, porcelain pottery, a variety of woodwork, lampworked beads and oil paintings.
“Most of these people do this arts and crafts full time, [making] their living off of them,” Harding said.
“It is not like a Christmas bazaar. There is no Santa. It is just [standard] gifts and they are all handmade by the person there.”
In addition to perusing the goods, fairgoers can paint and buy bowls from the Community Bowl Project. All funds from the bowl sales will go to the food bank in addition to the other funds raised by sales of crafts.
The project was founded in 2007 when bowls made by area potters were decorated during the annual Children’s Festival of Art. The bowls were later fired and put on sale at the Uptown Street Fair.
For more information, visit www.porttownsend artsguild.org, call 360-774-6544 or send an email to ptartsguild@yahoo.com.
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Features Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or at cmcdaniel@ peninsuladailynews.com.
About 50 vendors will set up shop today and Saturday during the 26th annual Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair. Shown are aprons crafted by Jean McCrea of Port Townsend during the 2015 fair. (Port Townsend Arts Guild)
