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How to get there
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The craft fair is coming again! 2007 November 3rd and 4th Mackenzie High school on Brockhouse Way Unique gifts for Christmas. Annual Deep River Arts and Craft Fair, November 3-4 weekend at MacKenzie High School. Saturday 12 noon-5pm, Sunday 11am-12 Noon (Seniors and Disadvantaged Only) Sunday 12 noon-4pm. Hosted by Interact Club of MHS and North Renfrew Rotary Club. www.Rotarynr.ca The annual Deep River Christmas Arts & Crafts Fair has attracted shoppers from far and wide looking for that perfect gift for someone special. Artists and crafters from local communities and from as far as Ottawa and Kingston have developed reputations for bringing high quality collections of unique handcrafted pieces for sale at reasonable prices just in time for Christmas. Following the 2005 Craft Fair, the annual event was at risk of folding because of a lack of volunteers wishing to take on the big task of running the Fair. However, the new Rotary club in town stepped up and offered its members to run the 2006 Craft Fair as a fundraising event for charitable projects. Following the success of that Fair, the club has again stepped up to run the 2007 Fair, which promises to be even better.
Questions and Answers Q. How do you get artists and crafters to come to Deep River for this event?
Our Club advertises in a quarterly Crafters Bulletin. We also send letters of invitation to Crafters from the previous 2 years and distribute posters and pamphlets throughout the Ottawa Valley.
Q. How many are there this year? We have over 50 Crafters registered thus far. Applications continue to arrive.
Q. What are the most exciting changes this year? We are offering crafters the option of being '”juried.” A number of participants have elected this option. We are striving to improve the quality of the work. We have also improved our services this year for crafters and shoppers in food services and entertainment. Watch for the Clown!
Q. Why did the Rotary club want to take on this big job? Both crafters and shoppers requested that the Fair continue when it looked like it would close in 2005. The Rotary Club felt it could provide this service to raise funds for our fledgling Club. The Rotary Club sponsors an Interact Club at Mackenzie High School. Together, we raise additional funds to support community, vocational and international projects
Q. How does the club earn money from the fair? How much? The Interact and Rotary Clubs earn funds from rental of spaces to artists and crafters. We also charge shoppers two dollars admission for the 2-day event. We expect to raise about $5,000.
Q. Where does the money go? We support local projects such as the Food Bank and North Renfrew Family Services. Our Interactors sponsor a child in the Philippines and our Rotary Club has sponsored a Microbank in El Salvador. In addition, we provide many leadership opportunities for local youth. We also support the Tamarack magazine.
Q. What effort is involved in running this event? We have a working Committee of 8 persons including Rotarians, Interactors and Friends of Rotary. The Tamarack class at MHS assists with the set-up and the Interactors assist with services required during the Fair as well as the important job of cleaning up afterwards.
Q. Do you need extra help? Doing what? We could use help to reach out to Artists and Crafters to make the Fair even more attractive to local and visiting shoppers. Our new Rotary Club would welcome new members to share the workload in order that we can better serve our community.
Thank you,
Bob French (613) 584-4619
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