May 24, 2002 By Cindy Ekas-Brown 4 min read

DUNBAR TWP. – Their love of craft shows led Uniontown native Debbie Stavischeck Stoner and her husband, Dave, to organize their first craft festival at the Fayette County Fairgrounds 10 years ago. And a decade later, the couple continues to turn their one-time hobby into a business venture, organizing seven festivals each year through the Family Festivals Association Inc., which they operate from their Irwin home.

The couple is making last-minute plans for the 10th annual Pennsylvania Arts & Crafts Country Festival, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today through Monday at the Fayette County Fairgrounds.

“I don’t think people realize how much work is involved in organizing a festival like this,” said Dave Stoner during a recent interview. “We do everything to get ready for the shows from cleaning the bathrooms to setting up a complete office at the fairgrounds. We clean out all of the buildings and bring in all of the supplies.”

Before the festival begins, Stoner said the couple spends several weeks at the site. They measure, spray paint and mark the individual booth spaces, which range from a single 10-foot-by-10-foot booth to as large as 50 feet long.

“All of the exhibitors are pulling big trailers and RVs, and they’re coming from as far away as Florida and Texas,” he said. “We have to make sure that they can hook up to electricity and water because some of the exhibitors live in their trailers and RVs during the shows. There is more work involved behind the scenes getting ready for a festival than you can imagine.”

Stoner said the couple selected the Fayette County Fairgrounds as the site for the first show 10 years ago because his wife, Debbie, is a 1978 graduate of Laurel Highlands Senior High School.

“We liked the area and the fact that you could see the mountains in the background,” he said. “We picked the fairgrounds for our first festival site for a number of reasons. The fairgrounds is highly visible and accessible. There are six buildings that we use there, and about 120 of the 165 spaces are inside those buildings. That’s very important in case the weather is bad.”

Last year’s festival at the Fayette County Fairgrounds attracted more than 15,000 visitors from a five-county region in southwestern Pennsylvania, and the Stoners are expecting a similar crowd for the Memorial Day weekend event. This year’s festival will feature a variety of crafters from 20 different states.

“This craft show averages about 70 percent return for the crafters each year, which means that about 30 percent of the crafters do not return,” he said. “We fill those empty spaces with new exhibitors each year. It’s good for the public because they want to see the same the new exhibitors each year. With the turnover, it gives us a chance to offer new crafters to the show.”

The exhibitors have been hand-selected from a mailing list of more than 10,000 artists and craftsmen for the juried show, according to Stoner. The festival will also feature food booths, musical entertainment and children’s activities.

Some of the crafts that will be featured at the show include wood, folk art, furniture, shelves and wood accessories; fiber, applique clothing, quilts, rag rugs, dolls and animals; pottery, southwest designs, wildlife designs and holiday pieces; metal, gold and silver jewelry, ornamental iron and blacksmithing; artwork, tole painting; stained glass, lamps and night lights; dried floral, wreaths and swags; ceramics, both decorative and functional; paper, paper mache and photography.

“The crafters have to send in slides or photographs of their work, and that’s how we determine who is selected for the show,” he said. “We send out about 10,000 applications to crafters from all over the world, and we receive about 1,000 applications or 10 percent of the applications back. We then have to select about 140 crafters from the 1,000 applications that we receive. It takes a tremendous amount of time to look at all of the slides and photographers and then select the crafters.”

The ticket prices for the festival are $4.50 for adults, $4 for senior citizens age 65 and older and $1 for children ages 6 to 12. Children under 6 are admitted free. Additional discounts are available for groups of 20 or more. For more information, call 724-863-4577.