An Eclectic festival draws crafters and customers

Nearly 300 vendors lined Main Street in Eclectic in October for the highly anticipated return of the Cotton Festival, with upwards of 15,000 attendees flocking to craft booths for trinkets, gifts and décor.

The Cotton Festival, which returned for its 29th year, has long served as a dream event for vendors and visitors alike. Along with a vast collection of arts and crafts booths lining the streets, food trucks and a stage had their places at the festival. With seemingly endless displays of hobbies involving art, the creative wares were laid out and available for purchase. Several booths offered indoor and outdoor décor, from authentic wood signs to holiday inspired wreaths for every occasion. Personalized gifts were on full display, including journals, tumblers and keychains.

One of the returning vendors, Cherri Designs by Brittany Kelly, has been on the vending scene for most of her life. Having grown up around vending, Kelly gets to share her love of crafting while gaining more experience.

“I’ve been doing vendor events for close to 30 years,” explained Kelly, whose crocheted and embroidered items have connected with Cotton Festival visitors for three years now. “I’m from Montgomery, and my best friend that vends with me is local. She’s from Eclectic. We make crocheted and embroidered items, even some jewelry. I also have T-shirts that I make, too.”

Kelly and other vendors at last year’s festival couldn’t help but notice the smalltown charm illuminated through the locals perusing the booths. With a friendly atmosphere to welcome the vendors in, it was apparent to Kelly it was going to be a good day to vend.

“I like that the festival is local to me. The people are always really nice. I know they’re working on expanding, and I really like doing smalltown events and stuff,” Kelly said.

One of the most cherished parts of the vending experience for Kelly is the opportunity to meet new people and share with them her passion for her creativity. Vending continues to be one of the best ways for smalltown businesses like Kelly’s to expand their fol- lowing.

“You get to share your passion for creating with new people. We always meet new people, and we see friends and family members that we haven’t seen in a while, too. It’s great,” Kelly said.

Another vendor that decided to share her woodworking abilities at the festival this year was Christina Perkins, owner of Two Peaz Designz. Perkins creates wreaths for every occasion, as well as door welcome signs made from natural, real wood from the 30-acre property in Montgomery where she lives with her husband. Décor is her specialty, and with a growing passion to share her work with the surrounding communities, Perkins continues to find vending events in which to participate.

“This was the first year that I’ve done a lot of festivals, all year long. Last year, I did about five festivals; and then, this year, I’ve done about 15,” Perkins explained.

One of the things that stuck out most to Perkins about this festival was the impressive organization of the Cotton Festival team leading up to and during the event.

“They thought of everything that would concern a vendor, like the setup. Having one day before to set up was fantastic. It made things a lot less stressful than getting there at 3 or 4 in the morning to set up the day of. They let us come in the night before to kind of do it at our own pace. They also provided security all throughout the night before the festival to protect our stuff. They really did think of everything. There was also something for everybody who went to the festival. From the kids to the food to the petting zoo; then, there was the car show. All the crafts and things; you can’t just find that every day in stores,” Perkins said.

The Cotton Festival couldn’t have come at a better time for vendors like Perkins and Kelly. With the holidays sneaking up on everybody, searching for that last minute Christmas present was made easier with oneof-a-kind gifts from booths just like theirs.

Another special skill on full display at the festival was pottery. Several potters made an appearance at the event with plenty of handcrafted pieces to catch the crowd’s attention. One of the local potters who set up a booth at this year’s festival wass Chris McElvaine, who owns and operates Fleahop Pottery.

“I’ve been making pottery since about 2011 when I retired, and I’ve vended for the Cotton Festival for either four or five years, but it’s just been in the past couple of years that the festival has really exploded,” McElvaine explained.

The massive numbers of festivalgoers added to the excitement of the event for vendors like McElvaine who can’t wait to attend the event again next year.

“It was great. All of the customers were very excited to be there. It was a big deal, both for Eclectic and for the community. A lot of the customers came from the surrounding area, but there were a lot of people who actually live in Montgomery but have a place at the lake. So it was a mixed crowd, but they were all excited to be there. Everybody was smiling,” McElvaine explained.

Sharing her skills through various stoneware pieces is a big deal for McElvaine, who is part of the Tallassee area. Connecting with others through her art has given her so much joy throughout her retirement years.

“It’s huge. When I went into this, I had no idea that I would be as successful as I’ve been, but I have customers who follow me to different venues and customers who come back year after year to either buy for themselves or as gifts for family members. I specialize in functional stoneware pottery that you can serve in, that you can cook in. So they can actually pass it on to their family,” McElvaine said.

Both new and returning vendors admired the efforts by the organizers of the events and the truly warm welcoming they received at the festival from customers. With such a receptive audience at this year’s festival, the vendors are eager to come back and continue sharing their crafts next year.