BY AMBER CRAFT
Special to the Telegraph
The First Seasonal Shop Small Fall Craft & Yard Sale kicked off September 7 at the Bradford County Fairgrounds with a whole lot more than crafts and homemade preserves. Each vendor brought with them a special story as to why they are entrepreneurs. For many, their “whys” ranged from doing it for family to spending time strengthening friendships, but all had in common a desire to serve the community with their homemade crafts and delicious food treats.
Entrepreneurship Passed Down Through Generations
Terrasa Wood, founder and coordinator for the event, explained that her idea to hold a small-style craft fair was to raise money to take her family of 14 on a Disney vacation, something she and her husband try to do every year. But she also saw it as an opportunity to teach her grandchildren an important lesson on the power of entrepreneurship, something her grandmother instilled in her growing up and a lesson she has passed down to her own children.
“Kelsey, my daughter, is my why. She makes memory bears and quilts. She’s at home, she’s disabled, but she does all this. And then my grandbabies are my why. I want them to learn that they’re not gonna get handed everything in life. My grandmother did it with me. We shelled peas, we [preserved] jelly, you know, we sold veggies on the side of the road. We did all that. And I want them to understand that that is a concept that we need to keep alive, that they need to be able to be self-sufficient, take care of themselves, especially because they’re six females… but I just want them to know that they can be an entrepreneur.”
Terrasa’s big ‘why’ allowed several more vendors to showcase their businesses and handmade crafts.
An ‘Itchy’ Problem Becomes A Soothing Soul Mission
Dawn Blind, Owner of Natural Nonsense, an all-natural ingredient soap and wax melts business, found her “why” by chance. She was trying to help her best friend find relief from her eczema when she began researching the chemicals in commercial products and discovered that many were harmful to humans.
“Originally, my best friend and I started this business because she had eczema that was really bad, so we were trying to find a natural way to get rid of the chemicals that would upset her skin. We went down the rabbit hole of how many chemicals are in all of our cleaning products. So, I started researching how to make all-natural soaps, and from there, now I’ve got magnesium lotions and sprays that are a natural way that may help you sleep, that may relieve muscle soreness and tension. I’ve used them before for a headache.”
Blind also discovered how some of these commercial products affected her own health.
“All these chemicals are causing cancers and skin conditions. I make my own natural deodorant. When I ran out, I had to go back to store-bought. I felt sick, and the only thing I changed was the deodorant.”
Now, her business is picking up steam due to the awareness that others are having about chemicals in commercial products that aren’t the healthiest.
“I started with the soaps, and maybe down the line, I might branch out, but for now, I’m trying to get the soaps to start. I do wax melts also just because they’re 100% soy so they don’t have store-bought chemicals that release chemicals into the air that you breathe.”
What started as helping her best friend find relief from eczema grew into a larger why. “I’m trying to get more people to be healthier,” Blind said. (You can find her products on her Facebook page- Natural Nonsense)
Honoring Her Mother’s Creative Legacy
Lorri Lee, owner and designer of Tricia’s Precious Gems, has dedicated her purpose to honoring her late mother, who was diagnosed with Stage 2 metastatic breast cancer in 2014 before passing away in 2017 from the disease.
“Tricia’s Precious Gems is actually in honor of my mother. Her name is Patricia Lee, and her family called her Tricia. So that’s how the business name came about. Also, our logo is a butterfly, a colorful butterfly. Me and her, we both shared a love for butterflies, and she told me she used to paint butterflies and she would enter them into the art shows they used to have here at the fairgrounds.”
Lee said her mother was involved in a variety of crafting interests.
“She had a passion for art and home decor. She was a singer, songwriter, fashion designer, anything creative she loved to do, especially cooking, that was her thing.”
Lee didn’t realize honoring her mother through creative crafting would evolve into a business.
“I didn’t know it would come to this. I started off with the pens, the beaded pens, and then it kind of evolved into what you see today. So, I think it’s just an honor, and it’s also keeping her name and memory alive.”
Her crafting products include rhinestone mugs, personalized tumblers, and other gifts in various colors and designs.
Looking forward, Lee stated that she wanted to raise community awareness on the importance of early detection in breast health.
“Breast cancer can impact anybody, any race, gender, because I’m hearing a lot of cases with men being diagnosed with breast cancer…So my thing is, I want to bring awareness to breast health. So, every piece that I sell, especially during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and it just so happened to be her birthday month, every piece I sell, a portion will go to the Susan G. Komen breast cancer organization.” (You can find her at triciaspreciousgems.com)
Just A Couple of ‘Fat Kids’ with A Hankering For BBQ
Take a couple of charismatic best friends with a 15-year friendship acting as the special sauce and in competition with each other to win, and you would perfectly describe Ricky Smith and Jerry Waters, co-owners of 2 Fat Kids BBQ.
These two show up because they love to compete in chili and barbecue cook-offs, so they joined forces and searched for a name. “We come from a chili competition. We cooked chili together, and we didn’t have a name,” Smith said.
“We were thinking about cooking barbecue; there’s two of us, and we’re both fat, so that was an easy call,” Waters added.
They enjoy showing up at local craft fairs to supplement expenses for their hobby. “We cook at competitive barbecues, and competitive barbecue is an expensive hobby, so we do things like this so we can do our expensive hobby,” Smith explained. “We both love high-stress situations, so we seek them out, and this is it.”
However, it isn’t all about competing. Smith and Waters explained that they both hold high-stress jobs that take up much of their time, but this is how they spend time together as friends.
“We’ve been friends for about 15 years. This lets us spend time together doing something we both enjoy.” (You can find 2 Fat Kids BBQ on Facebook)
Looking to the Future of Heart-Centered Community Craft Events
Wood is pleased with the vendor turnout and looks forward to hosting more events to allow vendors to share their crafts and “whys” with the community.
“So, it really came together really, really quick, which I’m grateful for. I would like it to be double the size of vendors next time.” She added, “I’m real big about shop small, and we’ve got so many crafters locally that everybody’s trying to make ends meet. And if I can help them in any way do that, that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Wood’s next event is the Grand Opening of the Star Center Fall Event on Saturday, October 12, in Middleburg. For information on how to sign up to be a vendor, contact Terrasa Wood at 904-769-9462.
