De Pere Redbird Holly Craft Faire returns for 45th year

The De Pere Redbird Holly Craft Faire will return to De Pere High School for its 45th annual event next Saturday, Nov. 29.

Today, the Redbird Holly Craft Faire is run by the Parent Club — but that hasn’t always been the case.

“It was originally started not by the Parent Club,” said Anne Stangel, who coordinates the event with her daughter, Elizabeth Stengel, and Traci LaCrosse.

“The FFA at De Pere High School was looking for an outlet for the fruit sale that they were having and Alice Daul, who was also a crafter, suggested that they start a craft show, and that’s how it originally started. It was different clubs — a wrestling club would do the setup, the music boosters would do the take down — a lot of different student organizations helped put it together as it grew, and then it transitioned to the Parent Club taking over.”

The Holly Craft Faire is now the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Parent Club, raising money for a variety of activities put on by the club throughout the year for the De Pere High School community.

“The purpose of the Parent Club is really to support the students, the teachers and the staff at De Pere HIgh School, as well as the parents in the community…” said Laurie Clayton, president of the Parent Club said. “We have a teacher and staff appreciation event for the high school — we have multiple of those throughout the year. We also have our student events. We sponsor the homecoming tailgate… We also have our two biggest events that this money primarily goes towards — our post-prom and our grad bash events… Those are the kinds of big things that this helps. They’re expensive events… so having this help is huge.”

At the Holly Craft Faire, attendees can expect to see an abundance of handmade goods — and an absence of resale or multi-level distribution vendors.

“We are all handcrafted,” Anne said. “You won’t find any Tupperware or any of the other direct sale vendor-type things. We don’t do that. Everything needs to be handcrafted.”

And to make sure that everything being sold at the Holly Craft Faire is handmade, vendors go through a rigorous application and selection process.

“Crafters apply to the show and we have a process where they essentially, to the best of our abilities, prove that it’s handcrafted,” Elizabeth Stangel said.

“We approve or deny, and then on top of that, because it’s juried there are only so many of each type of craft. So there’s an allotted amount of jewelry. THere’s an allotted amount of bath products. There’s an allotted amount of woodworking. You’re not going to go into the show finding 200 of the exact same thing, which is an important part of the jury process.”

Those 200 booths fill up fast, Elizabeth said, as spots for this year’s show were fully booked already in July.

And many vendors have returned year after year with the event becoming a tradition passed down through generations.

“There are vendors that mom and daughter were doing it together and now mom is retired but the daughter still does it and with a granddaughter,” Anne said. “There are booths that have become generational.”

“There are generations of people who have attended this event,” Tracie said. “It’s almost become a Thanksgiving tradition, like, ‘This is what we do Thanksgiving weekend.’ I have a co-worker whose adult children come back home and this is part of their Thanksgiving weekend.”

For those planning on making the Holly Craft Faire a part of their Thanksgiving weekend this year, organizers recommend being prepared.

Whether you’re joining the line outside the building to be one of the first through the doors or coming later in the day, Elizabeth suggests, “Clean your trunk out because you’re going to need that space and get ready to do all your Christmas shopping in one spot.”

In addition the Parent Club, the Holly Craft Faire is supported by and provides support for De Pere High School students, from student volunteers helping with set up to profits from the food and tips from the coat check and package drop area going towards various student clubs.

A $4 donation is suggested at the door and booths will be spread throughout the school’s gym and commons area.

Learn more about the Holly Craft Faire at sites.google.com/view/hollycraftfaire.