May 10, 2015 4 min read

If David Stoner had one resolution for 2015, it was to add yet another seasonal craft show to his schedule that already covered autumn, Halloween, Thanksgiving, winter, Hanukkah and Christmas.

Stoner can check off that task as “mission accomplished,” because he has lined up for the Washington County Fairgrounds more than 190 arts and crafts booths with participants from 15 states selling everything from jewelry to floral decorations to soap and wooden furniture.

His Pennsylvania Arts and Crafts festival makes its May 15-17 debut with a spring show. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, and Saturday, , and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $6 for adults, $5.50 for those age 65 and older and $1 for children 6-12. No fee will be charged for children younger than 6.

In addition to the market, puppets will provide entertainment and clowns will be painting faces and making balloon animals. Vendors will be selling food and the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum will offer rides for an additional $2 fee.

“We are very excited to be returning to the Washington fairgrounds with a spring arts and crafts festival,” Stoner noted in a news release. “We have such a loyal following for the Christmas festival held here in October that it makes sense to offer a unique shopping experience to our shoppers at the beginning of the summer on the weekend between Mothers Day and Memorial Day.”

Last October was his 20th annual Christmas craft show at the local fairgrounds, and Stoner also produces shows in Morgantown, W.Va., and the Monroeville Convention Center. He also plans to expand the Christmas venue the first weekend in November to the Blair County Convention Center in Altoona.

During an interview last fall at the Washington County fairgrounds, Stoner’s phone rang constantly as he dealt with issues behind the scenes: vendors having difficulties plugging into electrical outlets, an ATM that wasn’t working and a false fire alarm. “Friday is the most hectic day,” he said.

Although there may have been a few glitches, the October 2014 show turned out to be one of the highest-attended. Stoner attributed it to “perfect weather and almost no Steelers game conflict. I hate to say that because I love the Steelers.”

He also recalled his first experience with a Christmas craft show there. “The night before, they were calling for it to be in the 30s. We did not have a clue as to how many people would show up, but we do a ton of advertising.

“Twenty-thousand people came through that weekend. They were lined up all the way to I-79. It was so crowded we had to add a second weekend to the festival. That dome wasn’t there so we didn’t even have covered seating (in the food court.) When they added those two buildings it really changed the complexion of the show.

“It’s really worked well here,” Stoner said. “It has more of festival atmosphere. There’s never been fewer than 15,000 at this show.”

In addition to the buildings, in the meantime, the fair board has added stone chips to the grassy parking lot to create driveways and improve navigability and renovated a rest room.

Stoner, has been in the trade show business for 32 years, during part of which he was assistant director at the previous David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

He has been organizing and promoting arts and crafts festivals since 1993.

“We do a ton of advertising to the public,” Stoner said, and because he considers advertising to be of prime importance, he handles it all personally.

“This isn’t just a little local craft show,” he said. “It has an economic impact. “We block motel rooms from three different motels for (vendors) to stay in. They really do come from far and wide.”

He estimated half of his exhibitors at the spring show will be attending for the first time, and those who also sell at the Christmas show will be offering much different merchandise.

Customers who have attended the fall show won’t find vendors in the same spot.

“We did mix it up a little bit,” Stoner said. “We’ll still be using all six buildings like we do in October.”