Lily Baker, a queer potter who lives in Montpelier, is just beginning to turn her craft into supplemental income. Many of the fairs where she might hawk her earthen wares, however, are limited to “very established artists.” So, over the summer, Baker started talking to her fellow crafty queer friends.
We should have our own, they decided.
Behold: the inaugural Central Vermont Queer Craft Fair.
The event, which takes place on Saturday, December 17, in Barre, fills a gift-shopping void that opened when a mainstay holiday market in Montpelier shut down during the pandemic.
But the new queer crafters on the block have a grander vision. Along with 36 vendors selling all manner of art and crafts, the historic Old Labor Hall will be packed with flourishes and activities intended to make the fair inclusive and accessible to all. Organizers are planning music, a massage corner and a community art project that shoppers can help create. Attendees can write letters to incarcerated people or queer youth, and volunteer medics on hand can provide Band-Aids or nervine tincture, an herbal concoction for well-being.
“There is something about making an event with this community, where there is just so much sparkle and magic,” Baker said. The application process for exhibition space was also open to heterosexual vendors.
The fair, organizers hope, will serve as a joyous and radical expression of resilience in the face of ongoing prejudice, hateful rhetoric and violence toward queer and trans people.
“I think that gathering together in community is always a transformative experience and always an antidote to that hate,” co-organizer Dana Dwinell-Yardley said.
Straight people needn’t worry about crashing the party, Dwinell-Yardley emphasized.
“This is a really tangible way that allies can show up for queer community right now and put money in the pockets of queer artists,” she said.
The Central Vermont Queer Craft Fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Masks are required and will be available at the door.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Queer Cheer”
This article appears in Dec 14-20, 2022.
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