The inaugural Holiday Kids Craft Fair was a tremendous success. Hosted at Eagle Lake City Hall, the event provided young and creative entrepreneurs to showcase their talents and business savvy.
With Christmas fast approaching, the halls of City Hall were transformed into a bustling marketplace on Friday, December 19, as Eagle Lake hosted its first-ever Kids Holiday Craft Fair. Young entrepreneurs from St. Clair, Eagle Lake, Janesville, and the greater Mankato areas gathered to showcase their handmade wares just in time for last-minute gift shopping, drawing a massive turnout from the community.
The event, which saw twenty vendors sign up, was the brainchild of City Administrator Jennifer Bromeland. She took notice of several local youth’s entrepreneurial spirit through flower and lemonade stands, but it was a Facebook post by a 3D designer, teenager Gavin Baumgartner, that ultimately sparked Bromeland’s desire to host an event made to highlight these bright young minds. She proposed the idea to the Eagle Lake EDA in September, and the rest as they say is history.
The Holiday Craft Fair featured a diverse array of products, ranging from traditional crafts to modern technology. Among the standouts was Baumgartner, an Eagle Lake-based designer who has been honing his skills with a Bambu Lab 3D printer over the last year. This reporter has come across several variations of these 3D-printed objects, but Baumgartner’s were unique, “slink-like” versions of standard objects like stars and Christmas trees. He also offered 3D-printed rings and earrings, providing a high-tech fit for anyone and everyone.
Other young makers relied on more primitive tools like a hot glue gun, yarn, and lots and lots of patience. Under the playfully named brand If You Give a Kid a Glue Gun, Hadley White, displayed intricately woven holiday-themed designs with nothing more than colored yarn. Her collection included Christmas trees, snowmen, and ornaments that take nearly a week each to craft. White admitted that the artisan’s life comes with risks, noting she’s “burned herself once or twice” with the hot glue in pursuit of perfection.
Artistic expression was on full display at Molly Sward’s booth, which featured paintings of beach scenes, candy canes, and vibrant abstracts. Nearby, Kiddie Krafts offered a variety of practical art, including kitten-shaped pencil holders, bookmarks, and hand-designed greeting cards.
The fair also catered to four-legged friends. Megan Mezera, assisted by Avi, Lena, and Cora, offered all-natural, pumpkin-puree dog treats and gingerbread Christmas ornaments. The group has been baking these incredibly fragrant treats for years to satisfy the appetites of her own dogs, Winston and Aspen. While they smell good enough to eat, Avi was quick to remind shoppers that the ornaments are strictly for decoration.
This inaugural showing of this youthful fair was nothing short of astounding. Even in the opening minutes of the event, a small meeting room at Eagle Lake City Hall soon became overflowing with patrons, making for some tight maneuvering to traverse the space. Bromeland was especially ecstatic at the amount of young entrepreneurs who were interested in presenting their ares, the support received by the EDA, and the immediate success of the Holiday Craft Fair, “It totally blew my mind how much creativity there was and how many kids wanted to sign up,” Bromeland said. “We expected a few, but this exceeded all expectations.”
With the overwhelming success of this event in its opening year, this fair may just become another annual tradition enjoyed by all. It took a collaborative effort to make this day possible, and as shoppers enjoyed hot cocoa and cookies while browsing vendors, the consensus was clear: the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the youth of Eagle Lake.
