KPFA Crafts & Music Fair

This is the BEST Arts and Crafts fair. 99% of the items here are handmade by the artists. It’s fun and interesting to talk to the artists about their work. There are so many beautiful and unique items here. We have acquired many things from this fair over the years and I just noticed that they will have a fair in June and in December for 2015!
In 2014 the fair moved to Craneway in Richmond and it was stunning. We were pleasantly suprised. It was easier to get to and there were not traffic or parking issues.

They always have high quality arts and crafts. Always a good time …

I always look forward to this fair and have attended three or four times, despite not living close by. I like that the entry fee and artist’s exhibit fees support KPFA and I really like the quality and variety of crafts available straight from the artists.
I always buy handmade cool t-​shirts for my guy, and something for myself — a barrette with polymer clay designs, earrings, goat soap, chocolate syrup. The food is good. The music is nice. Everyone seems happy.
Tip: free street parking is easy to find on Sunday morning.

Went to the 40^th KPFA Crafts & Music Fair, and it was wonderful. Some of the most beautiful (and might I say priced right) crafts I have seen in a long, long, time. No junk here… things for everyone… fun items, inventive items, recycled items, stuffed, fluffed, and yummy items. Gone to many craft fairs but this topped them all. Can’t wait till next year.

***Please note that this is a review for the 37Th version of this fair***
Per the website, this Crafts & Music Fair «is the largest weekend holiday craft fair of its kind in Northern California.» Every year, this fun event features unique and inspiring work created by crafts makers and artists from throughout the United States. Like the World of Good sale I attended last week, the proceeds from the Fair benefit KPFA 94.1 FM station.
Here are the reasons why I loved this fair:
–friendly staff
–organized methods of public transportation including shuttles from Bart station
–indoors (so no having to walk around in the cold!)
–over 200 exhibitors selling original and contemporary pieces including jewelry, clothing, photography, ceramics, paintings, sculptures, wearables, food/​body products, textiles, accessories, and
crafts from fair trade co-​ops around the world
–cheap parking
What a wonderful event, and who knew that It occurred 36 times prior to this one??? Although it was $ 10, I did not feel cheated. If you have one of those posters in your house that everyone and their mother has, then you will really appreciate this event. You can find unique artists that will sell you their products and tell you their stories. I was in awe by the range of artists I encountered. Some of my favorites included 2 photographers-​Xavier Nuez and Zeny Cieslikowski, a mixed media artist who was super sweet named Kelly Rae Roberts, a jewelry designer with sass named Mark Poulin, and an «etcher» named Gabriele Schwibach. So many artist, so little money. I truly wanted to walk away with so many things to decorate my home. I loved this fair and enjoyed supporting the people. The main draw to this fair is it’s eclectic style and ability to interact with artists. Truly nice engaging with Elly Simmons daughter who told me a little about the artist, who was her mother. Shout out to the «hard knock» section with its offering of clothing.
Viva ARTE!
*oh yeah… and did I forget to mention they have food and sweets to go! Notable mention are those caramel apples-​apple a la mode-​that I ate way too fast to even remember!

This is another review for the 37^th KPFA Crafts Fair-​aka 2007.
We try to support KPFA each year by attending this fair.
The admission is $ 10 but I feel that they should have a low income admission as well, so that it is «affordable» to all.
Although I admire and respect all the craftspeople and their fabulous work I wish that there were more items under $ 25 besides the food and books. The beautiful scarves and other handmade items, jewelry, art work, etc are certainly of superior quality and materials and I know that these items took plenty of time to create, but some of us can not afford to spend $ 75 and up on each person on our gift list. It would be nice if KPFA could have some vendors that sold some items under $ 25
As far as the under $ 25 items…
I did buy some chocolates/​candied apples and jams from a couple of different booths for between $ 3 and $ 6 each. There were also booths selling soap and other cosmetic items for under $ 10.
And the «fair trade» section of the fare did have many items under $ 25 and we were able to buy a very sweet Guatemalan doll, a beautiful scarf, a bamboo bowl and some chocolate bars from Ghana.
My «splurge» was buying a cute Asian cloth doll for my niece. (See photo). It is nearly impossible to buy a doll like this anywhere.
I discovered this doll on the KPFA Crafts Fair website. Their website is wonderful and gave us lots of info on what was featured at the exhibits, as well as the fair itself. I appreciate the crystal clear info on getting there. We use the shuttle (from the Civic Center Bart station) and I can’t understand how or why people would drive here.
I know that the vendors at the fair do give a % of their profits to KPFA so whatever I buy will help the station.
We only caught a part of the music, since we went early. When we listened to KPFA later we did hear jazz we wish we had stayed for.
There were also some non-​crafts booth from groups like Veterans for Peace, DownHome Music and several other local socially minded groups. Had a nice chat with one guy from Veterans for Peace.
Lots of bathrooms throughout the Concourse-​Yay!
All in all we were glad we attended this event.
This year’s fair seemed to be one of the best in terms of being organized so well:
Excellent website
Info brochure with map and events
Shuttle service was perfect – only had to wait minutes coming and going
Bike parking area.
Nice venue for the fair; inside, flow of people worked well.