A new craft fair will be held in North Aurora in June, officials said.
The fair, to be called Creativity at the Crossroads, will be held from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. June 22 at North Aurora Riverfront Park at 25 E. State St. in North Aurora.
The event will feature over 50 vendors, with most representing communities near North Aurora, organizers said.
Natalie Stevens, North Aurora community relations coordinator, said she proposed the idea for the new craft fair and was given the green light.
“I took over this spot last year, and we were looking to try out new things and see what our community was interested in,” Stevens explained. “I myself am an artist and love to attend art fairs. I brought this up as a potential idea, and it was well received as long as I was able to organize it.”
Stevens added that the village has had craft fairs in the past that were tied to North Aurora Days.
“We wanted to put a new spin on it and created Creativity at the Crossroads,” she said.
Stevens said she was pleasantly surprised by the vendor interest in the new event, saying she was able to fill half of the vendor spots for the craft fair within a couple of weeks of announcing Creativity at the Crossroads.
A sample list of products vendors will be offering include wooden items, crochet, handmade wreaths, coasters, soaps, candles, body scrubs, jewelry, dog bandanas, bouquets and more.
“It’s our first year and we had a very positive response from participants and also community members as a lot of positive comments were made,” Stevens said. “We are excited to see where it goes and possibly expand it to include performers during the event and adding more artists and vendors.”
Two food trucks will be on site during the event, Dulce Tentaciones Mexicanas from St. Charles and Serna’s Grill Food Truck from Franklin Park.
Stevens admits there are a lot of summer craft fairs in the area but isn’t concerned that the number has reached critical mass.
“There are a lot in the area but we checked the calendar to make sure ours doesn’t line up with any other happening that weekend,” she said. “With so many craft fairs, it’s sometimes hard to get vendors to commit, but we got our lineup easy.”
For more information on the event, go to https://northaurora.org/community-information/creativity-at-the-crossroads/
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
