SOUTH FORK – The parking lot and lawn outside of the South Fork Visitor Center was lined with vendor booths throughout the day on July 17 for the third annual South Fork Friends Foundation’s Arts and Craft Fair.
This wonderful event began as a way to bring more local and visiting artists to the area to display their talents and to have the opportunity to bring their wares to the small mountain town during the busy summer.
About 40 vendors attracted a huge crowd of shoppers, all coming to find a unique and special gift either for themselves or for family and friends. There was everything from intricate wooden sculptures to fine jewelry.
Music combined with the delectable smell from Gosar Sausage and the Kettle Corn truck made for the perfect summer atmosphere and served as a precursor to the coming Logger Days Festival.
The South Fork Friends Foundation has been an integral part of the South Fork Community for several years, beginning as a community fund organization that helped with community-based project like providing for the South Fork Fire Rescue, building and maintaining the community baseball fields, supplying and working to improve Rickel Park, and the ice-skating rink which now doubles as a basketball court.
Through the years the organization has raised funding to participate and plan events like the arts and craft festival to offer support to the visitors of the area during the summer and winter months and support the growing economy and surrounding community.
Now, with the arts and craft festival in the books, the organization will be setting their sights on the end of summer and their largest event to date, the Alder Ass race. This event is in its third year and brings hundreds of burro racers to the South Fork area.
This year, the event is set for Aug. 31 at Brown’s Park north of South Fork along Highway 149. The event has grown over the last three years and typically sees 50 to 60 racers each year.
For more information or to see a full schedule of events, visit www.southforkfriendsfoundation.org.
