Kraftucky is Bursting at the Seams!
Kraftucky has officially outgrown one floor. The Nov. 13–15 handmade market returns to Owensboro with more than 200 booths and, for the first time, an entire additional ballroom to explore.
More Room for the Handmade Stuff
The 13th Annual Kraftucky Arts & Crafts Expo fills the Owensboro Convention Center with three days of woodcrafts, quilts, jewelry, paintings, candles, pottery, embroidery, floral pieces, holiday decorations and specialty foods.
This year, shoppers should plan on doing a little more walking. Kraftucky is expanding beyond the center’s 44,000-plus square feet of first-floor exhibit halls and lobby space, adding vendor booths inside the 13,000-plus-square-foot third-floor ballroom.
That makes a strategy useful.
Rather than attempting to inspect 200-plus booths in strict numerical order, start with what you actually came to find. Need a useful gift? Look for woodworking, pottery or textiles. Shopping for someone who already owns everything? Handmade jewelry, artwork and one-of-a-kind décor offer a better chance of finding something that did not arrive by the pallet. Specialty foods handle the people who would rather eat their present.
Kraftucky requires participating vendors to offer handmade or hand-embellished work, so the booths represent hours of cutting, sewing, firing, painting, carving and assembling before the doors ever open.
Pick Your Shopping Window
The expo runs from 2 to 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Nov. 15.
With the show now spread across multiple levels, comfortable shoes and a reusable shopping bag make sense. Measurements are worth bringing if furniture, wall pieces or larger decorations are on the wish list. Cash can also be handy when shopping independent makers, although individual vendors determine their own payment options.
What is clear is that Kraftucky has grown well beyond a modest craft show. More than 200 booths now need upward of 57,000 square feet to contain them.
Ready to make another weekend an event? Find festivals across Kentucky through the Guide to Kentucky directory at https://www.guidetokentucky.com/festivals.
