Morinville – The Morinville Public Library is taking over the Morinville Parish Hall this Saturday to host a Christmas Craft Fair. The annual event, which takes place during Morinville’s Christmas Festival weekend, brings together local craft makers to showcase what they have to offer to local Christmas shoppers.
But while the craft show provides one-stop-shopping that can help people whittle away at their Christmas gift giving list, it also helps the library throughout the rest of the year.
“This craft fair is very important to us because it is the main fundraiser for the library,” said Morinville Public Library Manager Isabelle Cramp, adding the library has run the craft fair for at least the past eight years. “These funds become part of our budget for the year and they allow us to offer some of our programs and to buy some of the materials that we need for the library.
The library manager explained the library charges a fee for the vendor’s space and collects a small admission fee at the door.
Approximately 50 vendors are lined up for this year’s event, so many that both floors of the Parish Hall will be used to house all the tables and booths.
“We have a good variety of vendors,” Cramp said, adding the collection of items on hand this year will include homemade soap, pottery and jewellery as well as traditional quilting and knit items, wood craft items and baked goods. “There really is an amazing variety.”
In addition to going home with some handmade crafts and homemade baking, shoppers can walk home with a new library card. The library will once again conduct a membership drive during the craft show. Cramp said library memberships for Morinville residents are $10 for individuals and $20 for families. Sturgeon County residents pay $20 for individual memberships and $35 for families. But those buying their membership at the craft sale will get a little bonus.
“The deal is if you buy your card, instead of one year membership, you get 18 months,” Cramp said, adding the card is a key to far more than just the books on the Morinville Public Library’s shelves. “We always say that the library is more than just books. And it is certainly more than just what is at our library. We are part of a system that covers all of Alberta. So whatever we don’t have here, we bring in for our patrons through our TRAC system. We also offer access to movies and music and audio books. We now have access to downloadable audio book sand e-books.”
The Morinville Public Library’s Christmas Craft Show takes place Saturday Nov. 27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Morinville Parish Hall. Admission is $2 for those 12 and over.
