East End Arts, Crafts Festival to feature local talents

LANCASTER- Next weekend, the East End Arts and Crafts Festival will showcase the talents of many local artisans and crafters. Art and craftwork representing all forms will be on display and for purchase throughout this two-day event.

With a variety of unique gifts, seasonal home décor, handmade products, the festival will have something for everyone. The festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 6 and 7, in the parking lots of Berried Treasures, located at 5870 Broadway, and Dimensions Photography, located 5876 Broadway. The festival will be held rain or shine.

Chris Ward, owner of Berried Treasures, and Rich Warmus, owner of Dimensions Photography, have come together to offer patrons a one of a kind event that will feature about 40 vendors and possibly even more.

“We have really been pushing it and we continue to keep getting phone calls from interested vendors,” said Ward. “There will be food, a candy store coming, someone who makes homemade pies, plus crafters. We also have a guy that refinishes old fashioned gas pumps and crafters who make handmade jewelry and tree skirts.”

Ward said there will be very distinctive items at the festival such as the wooden huts her sister-in-law crafts, which are constructed from branches, moss, twigs, and bark, everything from nature.

“Our [festival] is really based on all local artisans,” remarked Warmus. “Things like the Allentown Art Festival or the Lewiston Art Festival mainly bring people from other parts of the country here. We’re really focusing on our local citizens, the artisans, and crafts people and given them an opportunity to display their work.”

Other vendors will offer pottery, watercolor paintings, photography, homemade cocoa mixes, candles, lotions, wooden items, and there will be a crafter who makes banjos out of cigar boxes and so much more.

“There is a wide variety,” said Warmus. “We have been trying to look for different things. We are trying to showcase things we haven’t seen at other places.”

Also, a doughnut breakfast will be held, featuring doughnuts from Paula’s Donuts and the Cheektowaga Fire Explorers will be cooking up some hot dogs during the afternoon. Patrons will also be able to enjoy apple cider from Mayer Brothers.

Ward said they plan on holding the festival next year and in the spring possibly hosting a similar event. The festival will not only showcase the many talents of local artisans and crafters, but serve as a way to bring people down to the east end of Lancaster.

“This end of Lancaster is growing like crazy,” said Warmus. “Why not do more things down here? We have the room to do bigger things whether it be here, at the Grove, or at the park. There is more room to expand and do better things down at this end.”

Warmus, whose photography studio will be opened during the festival, said the village events are going downhill and he is not the only one that feels that way. The arts and crafts show that is held in the village every year is not the same anymore and has turned into a three to four hour, one-day event, and focuses mainly on the music festival.

“Lancaster is a wonderful place and I want it to grow and prosper,” Warmus remarked. “Somebody else needed to take over and start doing some different things and I think that is where we come in, I really do.”

In addition, Ward mentioned that the Wesleyan Church will be holding its Fall Festival at the same time and she is encouraging patrons to stop by the East End Festival after they attend the church’s festival.

Ward’s store will also be open during the event and some new items in the store include jellies, baby sweaters, handmade quilts, blankets by Jody, pottery, and her husband, Darrell, along with her son now, are continuing to offer handmade woodworking items.

Admission is free and parking is available along the roadway of Broadway. Also, a bin will be set up to accept non-perishable food items that will be donated to a local food pantry. For more information call 684-5798.

Also, beginning Oct. 8, Berried Treasures will have new fall hours, which are: closed Monday and Tuesday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.