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A Day at the Fair

July 21st, 2011

For fearless reporter and gorgeous intern Nadya, attending a craft fair was all in a day’s work, or so she thought… Attack of the Renegade (Craft Fair)!

Honestly, as nerdy as it is, I had been excitedly waiting for weeks (like huge cheesy smile, trying to keep myself from jumping up and down excited) for the Renegade Craft Fair.  The email said it was at the Mason Center Pavilion in San Francisco, so my mother, the vigilant life-giver she is, tried her hardest to bundle me up before leaving.  My whole family decided to come along, so everyone piled into the car and we set off for The City.

It took a bit to find the place – we drove around the area for a while until we hit (not literally) a whole crowd of hipsters.  ”We’re here!” I said loudly and probably in a sing-song voice.  We were in the gorgeous Marina Park, right on the bay – it looked like a scene out of Full House.

Look how excited I was (and how un-excited my brother was – he’s the one in the hoodie):

 

It was nice and cloudy, as San Francisco should be, and our long walk to the pavilion was slightly wet and very windy.   When we got there, though, the place was teeming!  There were people going in with bemused expressions and hordes coming out, clutching gift bags and posters, smiling hugely and chattering loudly.  There were even dogs waddling and skipping between people.  One step inside and it was clear I was home.  Home among the crafty hipsters!

I jumped from booth to booth, poking at the plushes and handling the handicrafts – everything was so put-together and cute!  (I say “put-together” because I have this fear that any time I make something it’ll fall apart as soon as someone touches it.)  These were professional crafters; Etsy sellers with their own personalized price tags, banners, and well-constructed store fronts.  Gone are the days of macaroni art (unless it’s ironic) and doily Valentines’ cards; this was the real deal.  Some of the crafts were so original, and yet doable, that I wished I brought my ideas book along – but then I would’ve been like an art student in the Louvre, you know, crazily sketching in the middle of the pathway.

Here are some cute things I found:

But what got me, of course, was all the YARN! So much yarn and so many knitted/crochet items!  I even came across some lovely vendors knitting and crocheting during their down time:

I had so much fun exploring the craft fair, I forgot to buy things!  Maybe it’s because I craft as well, but some of the prices for the goods from the fair were a little steep for me – it was all well designed and legitimately creative, but I still could not get myself to spend upwards of $30 for a printed shirt or $40 for a felted plushie sheep.  I had a good time walking around, though.  There were even free crafting workshops you could take at the back of the fair.  I didn’t have time to check these out, but my mom assures me they were properly cute.

The Renegade Craft Fair tours the U.S. and pops up in a whole bunch of cities (I even think it goes abroad to Europe).  Check out their website http://www.renegadecraft.com/.

I hope they come back again next year!

- Nadya the Intern

Entry Filed under: Written by Nadya