Close Knit: Mountain State Art and Craft Fair under way in Ripley | News, Sports, Jobs

Judy Fisher stirs apple butter during the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair on Friday afternoon. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

RIPLEY A large crowd was scattered across the grounds of the Cedar Lakes Conference Center Friday afternoon to learn about and appreciate Appalachian culture.

The 2024 Mountain State Art and Craft Fair started Thursday and was still going strong on Friday. There are still two days of the fair left, Saturday and Sunday, and it will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $7 for the general public and $5 for seniors over 55 and children ages 3-11.

According to its program, the fair started in 1963 as part of West Virginia’s centennial celebration and through the years became known as “The Original Granddaddy” of all art and craft events in West Virginia.

“Our event is different from similar events due to the fact that our artisans go through a jurying process to ensure that their work is of the highest quality,” MSACF President Jean Smith said in the program. “MSACF keeps our heritage alive by offering free hands-on make-and-take activities for children and adults alike.”

These hands-on activities include kite making, quilt piecing and making a stained glass piece. Attendees will even get a chance to learn how to do a Scottish dance. Appalachian Lassies will be teaching dancing at noon and 2 p.m. each day of the fair and performing at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday.

Appalachian Glass owner Chip Turner uses a tool to shape the top of a glass ornament on Friday during the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

Caitlin Lee came to the fair with her family, including her children, 6-year-old Harrison Knowlton-Lee and 2-year-old Hadley Knowlton-Lee. Lee said she is originally from Parkersrbug but she and her family moved away for a while and are now back in the area, in Newark, Ohio.

“My husband and I both consider ourselves Appalachian, so we just wanted to share it with (the children) a little bit,” Lee said.

Both kids were playing with kites that they made at the fair Friday afternoon, throwing them up in the air and smiling when the kites flew.

Youth Kelsey Lawson of Hurricane came to the fair with her mother Tiffany LeMasters and her grandmother Helen Southall to do her favorite activity, basket-making. Lawson said the baskets are her favorite part of the fair.

“I also like the weaving,” Lawson said.

Carrie Kline, left, and Michael Kline, right, perform during the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair on Friday afternoon. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

LeMasters said she came to the fair when she was little and she decided to start bringing her kids.

The basket making was taught by Elaine Sinclair, who has taught the craft for 37 years and four years at the fair. She’s also sold baskets there for 10 years.

“I love their faces when they finish (a basket),” Sinclair said.

Fair-goers can also hear stories, folk tales and traditional tales from a variety of storytellers and enjoy music such as bluegrass and country featuring instruments like guitars, fiddles and banjos, according to the program.

The fair will feature a fiddle contest from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, with the youth competition at 11 and the adult portion at noon. A youth fishing derby is scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon, followed by an antique tractor parade at noon.

Attendees peruse the many items for sale on Friday afternoon at the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

Attendees can also learn about Appalachian heritage through exhibits including traditional apple butter making, traditional cornmeal grinding, an antique saw mill exhibit, bread making and homemade fudge making.

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Parks and Recreation Section is sponsoring a tourism raffle in which people can win a chance for two-night stay at Twin Falls Resort State Park or two nights lodging at Pipestem Resort State park. The drawing will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday. People can enter at the Assembly Hall.

The fair showcases artisans who make things such as handmade soaps, art, glass items, jewelry, candied nuts, wreaths, candles and more. An artisan auction, with proceeds going to fund the fair and its scholarship and grant fund, is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday.

Kacie Owens, an Eleanore, W.Va., resident, was looking at items on display for a quilt show Friday with her mother, husband and three young children.

“We come every year, pretty much,” Owens said. “We like to support the local (artists) and obviously admire the talent.”

A quilt titled “Time To Remember” hangs in the Cedar Lakes Conference Center Assembly Hall on Friday afternoon. The quilt, made of vintage handkerchiefs, won a Best of Show award during the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair in Ripley. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

Jerry Adams, owner of Edison Art in Charleston, was exhibiting at the fair for the first time.

According to Adams, he takes vintage pieces like an old sewing machine or antique telephones and turns them into lamps.

“I put a little piece in the exhibit … (it) won second place,” Adams said.

Adams said he had a great day Thursday at the fair.

“I’m very impressed … I can’t complain,” he said.

There were also people demonstrating things at the fair like tinsmithing, sheep shearing and glass blowing.

Chip Turner, a glassblower and owner of Appalachian Glass in Weston, demonstrated how to blow glass and make glass objects like ornaments. He said the furnace he was using at the fair gets as hot as 2,200 degrees.

Turner said he has been selling pieces at the fair for about 15 years but this is his first year demonstrating how to blow glass.

Turner said he likes glassblowing because “from a grain of sand you can make something … 3,800 years from now my breath can be trapped in one of these (glass) balls on earth.”

A schedule of Saturday and Sunday’s activities can be found at https://www.msacf.com/2024schedule.

Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com