CRAFTER GEAR UP FOR BIG WEEKEND

The Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts and the River Valley Craft Club both will hold their annual Christmas craft fairs this weekend in Cape Girardeau.

"We had about 12,000 people last year and we expect more this year," said Pam Carroll with the River Valley Craft Club. "I think the fairs bring a lot of people into town."

Beverly Strohmeyer with the arts council said "Christmas at the Show Me Center" has been expanded this year.

"We will have the main floor of Show Me Center, the lobby, the concourse on the second level and the north third of the student recreation center," Strohmeyer said. "That adds up to about 80 more spaces than last year. It's bigger and better than we've ever done."

"Christmas at the Show Me Center" is the annual arts and crafts bazaar sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts. In its 21st year, the bazaar is the largest fund raiser of the year for the arts council.

About 350 exhibitors are expected at the Show Me Center, and organizers expect more than 10,000 people to attend the bazaar. Admission for adults is $1, and door prizes will be awarded hourly.

"There will be just about any kind of craft imaginable there," Strohmeyer said. "Everything from quilts to dolls, Victorian things and of course country things."

The Show Me Center fair will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and the River Valley Expo will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday hours for both craft fairs are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The River Valley Craft Club Christmas Expo is held at the Holiday Inn Convention Center and the A.C. Brase Arena Building. A free shuttle is provided between buildings and there is no admission charge, Carroll said.

About 400 exhibitors from several states are expected to display their crafts. This year is the 14th for the expo.

Carroll said that although many of the sale items will be holiday pieces, many are for everyday use.

At the Show Me Center on Sunday, more than $2,000 in hand-crafted gifts will be given away from a drawing for a "Sleighful of Hand-Crafted Gifts." All items are donated by exhibitors. Last year, three winners were chosen for one "sleighful" and two "wagonloads" of crafts.

"Sleighful" tickets are available at the Arts Council office and from Arts Council board members for a $1 donation. Proceeds support art programs in area schools.

New additions to "Christmas at the Show Me Center" include a free reading room, where kids age 3 and older can read and be read to by members of the International Reading Association; and a "spouses lounge" with a cash bar and a big-screen television tuned to sporting events.