Crafts Festival Brings Joyous Crowds

High-spirited winds at the Patchwork Indie Arts & Crafts Festival Sunday seemed to make a game of airlifting vendors' tents, while shopkeepers grasped their anchor lines, giving the bizarre impression they were trying to fly these unwieldy, box shaped kites.

Quick-thinking customers joined in the fun and helped to bring the shelters back to earth without upsetting the merchandise piled high on tables. Onlookers, clutching snacks on sticks bought from food trucks, cheered them on, laughing like children witnessing a wondrous circus act.

The winds were not the only high sprits under a sharp spring sky at this bi-annual event in the Marine Stadium parking lot.

Hundreds of smiling faces filled the aisles as friends met friends at the lively fair.

Together they marveled at the ingenious ways these crafters took ordinary items and turned them into objects completely different from their original intents.