LIHU‘E — For more than 30 years, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, a loyal group of people gather to wait patiently outside Wilcox Elementary School cafeteria for the doors to open at 8:30 a.m., officially kicking off the annual Kaua‘i
LIHU‘E — For more than 30 years, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, a loyal group of people gather to wait patiently outside Wilcox Elementary School cafeteria for the doors to open at 8:30 a.m., officially kicking off the annual Kaua‘i Handworks Christmas Fair.
“This started from the Garden Island Arts Council 33 years ago,” said event organizer Erlinda Bukoski. “We’re just carrying through the tradition.”
On Saturday, Bukoski will be selling the carefully crafted quilts she has been working on for the entire year, even though she admits to having a hard time letting go of her artwork.
“I make quilts, and when I have them hanging there, I just tell myself, ‘I’m not going to sell that,’ and then, boom, it goes,” she said, laughing. “It’s just nice, it’s nice to share your things, this is how I feel.”
Bukoski will be joined by 24 artists showcasing — and selling — their unique Kaua‘i-made work. She joined the hard-to-get-into group of vendors a quarter of a century ago, but others such as Carol Yotsuda and Eve Solomon have been there even longer.
The fair is an opportunity for Kaua‘i artists and crafters to sell their goods, she said.
“It’s supposed to be all made on Kaua‘i,” Bukoski said. “We encourage everyone not to order something from China on wholesale and sell it retail here.”
Because of the limited space and the large number of established vendors, “it’s not an easy thing” to be accepted as a new vendor at the Kaua‘i Handworks fair, according to Bukoski. Many artists have been there since the first year.
“It’s a really nice craft fair,” she said.
Since 2009, the organization has been accepting new vendors only if they are willing to share a booth with someone else, said Bukoski, who has been in charge of the event’s organization for the past four years.
Bukoski said many people have been calling Wilcox School looking for information, but the school only provides the venue; it’s Kaua‘i Handworks that organizes it. But the retired teacher is perhaps one of many unofficial links to the school. When Bukoski first participated in the fair as a vendor some 25 years ago, she was a teacher at Wilcox.
The school is in Lihu‘e, across from the state Public Library on Hardy Street. The fair is Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Call Bukoski at 332-7220, Gayle Konishi at 332-8483, or Carolyn Ogata at 822-1914 for more information.
