Out and About

As noted in last Friday's post, we went on a weekend adventure. This time it was a craft fair, not just any craft fair, this one was billed as The Great New England Fall Craft & Artisan Show.

It that looks like folks are walking inside a giant tent, you're right. The Hampshire Dome is a 94,000 square foot arena covered by an air supported roof. This indoor sports venue features imitation turf fields, ready for multiple sports including baseball, softball, lacrosse and soccer. There's also a driving range, running track, and a performance and conditioning center. The Dome is part of the Hampshire Hills Athletic Club complex.

Advertisements for the craft fair noted that there would be constant air flow throughout the dome as giant dual cage turbofans would propel up to 44 thousand cubic feet of fresh air per minutes into the Dome. It stated that the Dome exhausted huge volumes per minute to create an air turnover rate while circulating the upper and lower atmospheres inside the Dome to create a breeze throughout it.

While this was billed as a Fall Crafts Fair, there were far more Christmas holiday items available for purchase. That worked for me as I bought 3 hand-made ornaments for the tree we plan to get and decorate this year. Like many others, we'll be home for the holidays, and we're not at all disappointed at that prospect.

Not being sports enthusiasts, we had never heard of the Hampshire Dome until seeing an online notice for this event. Many holiday events usually held in smaller venues like churches, schools, and halls have been cancelled this year due to you-know-what. Holding a large one indoors was quite an accomplishment.

Judging by the nearly filled-up parking lots when we arrived, people were eager to get out and do some pre-holiday shopping or maybe just eager to get out and look around. Lots of shoppers were toting a number of purchases by the time we left, two hours later.

There was a lot to see and all the exhibitor's booths were well-spaced apart. Hand sanitizing dispensers were available, masks were required for both vendors and attendees, and directional arrows indicated the route. Once through, you could re-circulate again as this was not a timed entry event.

A concession area sold food and drinks, but you could also buy sweet treats in the crafts area. One of those giant sized whoopie cakes (right) would set you back $8.50 (each not all).

There was no shortage of vendors selling homemade face masks, especially ones with holiday motifs. The items on the right were a first-time-seen craft, headbands to liven up your Zoom meetings. There were several similar displays during my walk through the fair. This you-know-what situation has spurred on a number of home-based craft businesses.

In March 2017, a nor'easter caused the air-supported roof to de-pressurize and collapse under the weight of blizzard snow and ice from one of the region's worst winter storms. The torn fabric was repaired and no similar forces of nature have caused further damage.

Tis soon-to-be the season for many things bright and joyful. We've seen ads listing at least two more indoor craft shows in late November and early December. Both are in towns not more than 30 to 45 minutes from Nashua, NH, and we're already planning to attend, if possible.

The quality of some images from the craft show are not ideal. There's a reason. Many crafters  prefer that people not take photos of their works, fearing that an original creation would be copied. Many crafts are not original, so at shows, like this one, there's similar or identical works. 

My interest in photo taking is only to show things seen with no plans to duplicate them. Rather than have someone say no photos, I use auto focus and shoot quickly in available light and hope that auto focus works, in some cases it's less focused fuzzy. (I always abstain and honor a vendor's request if there's a sign stating No Photos.)

How about You — Planning to get out to any seasonal events available in your area?