NEWBURYPORT — Dozens of tents filled with jewelry, paintings, graphic designs and more flooded State, Pleasant and Inn streets on Tuesday, drawing folks from across the region to the Yankee Homecoming Craft Show.
“The craft fair is awesome,” said Yankee Homecoming Chairperson Alysha Robitaille. “I actually used to run it, so it holds a special place in my heart.”
The show ran from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. as people mingled and visited the vendors, often stopping to chat and learn more about each craft maker.
“There’s a lot of diverse crafters,” Robitaille said. “There’s jewelry, ceramics, I just bought a candle. They have some stuff for kids, which is cool.”
She noted that they offer discounted booth spaces for children on Inn Street.
“It’s important because we want to support the younger crafters, too,” Robitaille said.
The craft fair drew roughly 70 vendors, she said.
“It ranges every year. Now, because there’s outdoor dining, we scale back a little,” Robitaille said. “We used to have 90, but it’s fine because we have a diverse range and it’s still good to support everybody there.”
Retired jewelry designer Stephanie Seavey-Schellhorn, based in North Conway, New Hampshire, said she rented a tent because she can’t get enough of craft fairs.
“I do this for fun. I like to travel around. I like to meet all the people,” Seavey-Schellhorn said. “I bring friends with me and we kind of make like a whole event, like a girls night out.”
She spoke about her various pieces of jewelry for sale.
“The gist of my booth is one side is all sterling silver and the other side is all solid copper,” Seavey-Schellhorn said. “Eighty-five percent of that copper is salvaged so it would have been in a landfill. So it’s like upcycling trash to treasure.”
Julie Luskin, owner of local graphic design and craft company Jlusk Design, gave a similar overview of what her tent had to offer.
“I am a trained graphic designer but turned all things crafts and DIY,” Luskin said. “So I do paintings, handmade crafts, I do printmaking, linoleum blocks, really anything.”
Luskin, who was attending her second Yankee Homecoming Craft Show, said the event brings plenty of exposure and leads to many opportunities.
“I mean, even just the local community giving us ideas of other craft fairs to attend and kind of bringing you into their community,” Luskin said.
Dave Reynolds and his wife, Yvonne Reynolds, who were visiting from Maine, said they have come to Yankee Homecoming for more than 50 years and particularly enjoyed the craft fair’s various offerings.
“It’s a really high-quality craft fair and we really love coming here,” Dave Reynolds said. “And all the vendors put their heart and souls into their work. So it’s really neat to meet people who are committed to their work and their craft.”
Yvonne Reynolds said she loved meeting the vendors.
“People are very generous with their information,” she said. “They’re very welcoming.”
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.