The Rich History of the
Cedarhurst Art & Craft Fair
The spark of an idea for a craft fair happened in 1976, with Cedarhurst volunteers Pat Berenfanger, Judith Joy, Sue Shrode, and Lois Covington pioneering the concept after visiting art and craft shows in Knoxville and Gatlinburg. They returned with an overwhelming enthusiasm for creating a juried art fair in Mt. Vernon, and the Administrative Counselors of the Mitchell Museum approved the project. The work began.
Early work required infrastructure updates like installing additional water and power lines. The rest of the jobs were powered by volunteers: invitations sent to artists, publicity to attract the public, and recruiting more volunteers to support the event.
A grant from the National Endowment of the Arts helped fund the inclusion of ethnic art, crafts, and entertainment as a part of the first fair. Cedarhurst was selected to highlight the cultures of Japan and Yugoslavia.
Amazingly, the first fair was much like the fair of today. In total, the 1977 Craft Fair featured approximately 44 artists, refreshments by the Jefferson County Farm Bureau and Mt. Vernon Rotary Club, and music by the Terrapin Ramblers bluegrass band. An additional 50 exhibitors set up in conjunction with the NEA grant to connect visitors with Japanese and Yugoslavian cultures.
The first-year weather was perfect, and the attendance was estimated at approximately 20,000. The financial cost to the museum was upwards of $20,000. The inaugural fair was considered a huge success and plans began for the following year. Volunteer Counselor Pat Lipps stepped up to head the fair, a position she held for the next nine years.
The exhibitors added as part of the cultural grant were a large part of the 1977 Craft Fair. The second year, however, the fair stood on its own and doubled the number of art booths, featuring approximately 100 local and regional artists. Food offerings were expanded, and the fair continued to offer ethnic entertainment with dancing by the Cahokia Mound Indian Dancers and the Ballet Folklorico Azteca Mexican Dancers. Parking was expanded onto the grounds of the United Methodist Children’s Home, a Saturday get-acquainted dinner was held for participating vendors, and artist awards were developed to recognize outstanding talents.
By the end of the second fair, attendance reached around 21,000 visitors, an increase over the previous year.
Over the next several years, the Craft Fair continued to expand. Lack of nearby parking continued to be a problem, so in 1979, shuttle busses were contracted to carry visitors from the Times Square Mall parking lot to Cedarhurst. (At one point in Craft Fair history, there were seven different shuttle locations located around Mt. Vernon!)
In 1980, the Children’s Area was added. (The Children’s Store, however, didn’t arrive until 1987.)
By 1982, the fair had grown to more than 130 artists with an attendance estimated at 32,000 for the weekend. Financially, the fair broke even for the first time and was credited for the financial impact it brought to the Mt. Vernon community, an influx of revenue estimated at more than $300,000.
In 1986, the Cedarhurst Craft Fair celebrated its 10th anniversary. A special craft fair poster was created in honor of the milestone, and a Friday night Preview Party was added. Artist awards were expanded even more, with many of the awards designated for specific types of art, like ceramics, jewelry, and wood.
For the first 15 years, the Craft Fair admission was free, but that changed in 1992 with an admission fee of $2. It went up to $3 in 2003, then $5 in 2010.
In 1998, the Cedarhurst Craft Fair changed its name. Because previous visitors were disappointed by the lack of 2-dimensional art, a new medium was added that included watercolors, graphics, prints, and textiles. The museum event became the Cedarhurst Art and Craft Fair to include the new art additions, spurring even more growth. Artist participation peaked in 2002, with 180 vendors.
By 2006, the museum had acquired a liquor license, and a beer garden was added to the fair. The area was only open on Saturday afternoon because of the liquor laws in Mount Vernon at the time. It was expanded to Sunday when those restrictions loosened.
Then in 2007, the Cedarhurst Art and Craft Fair made a big move. The museum was undergoing a major expansion project, which made (the original location) the grounds behind the museum unavailable, so the fair moved out into the sculpture park to the west of the museum building, in front of the administration building (now the Shrode Art Center) where it is held today.
The year 2020 brought its own unique challenges. After the world closed down in late spring to control the spread of Covid-19, things cautiously opened back up in the summer. The question of whether or not to hold the Craft Fair was debated extensively. The decision was made that, with strategic and creative adjustments, the fair could be held safely.
The Craft Fair footprint on the grounds was reassessed to accommodate vendor booths and other amenities with the recommended social distancing guidelines. Visitors were given face masks as they entered the fair, and they were asked to wear them. The shuttle bus had to be discontinued, and health-inspected food trucks were brought in to replace the not-for-profit groups. The craft fair planners wondered if any artists and visitors would even participate, but in the end, the fair had 56 artists and several thousand attendees.
That was the first time the number of artist booths had dipped below 100 since the very first 1977 fair. Fair organizers hoped that the attendance would rebound in 2021, but the fair never gained back its previous momentum. In 2021, 85 vendors set up, and the not-for-profit food booths and beer garden returned.
Artist participation rebounded more in 2022, with 91 artists, but fell to around 70 in the following two years. Fair planners offered free Sunday admission to see if it would increase attendance, but the total number of visitors remained lower than pre-Covid numbers.
Discussions about sunsetting the fair began in 2023, but Cedarhurst stakeholders were not ready to see it go. In 2024, the music, entertainment, and food were consolidated to the east end of the fair property and the artist booths on the west end. Retirement of the fair seemed inevitable, and fair planners began putting together a 2025 Cedarhurst Art and Craft Fair to celebrate and honor a program that served the Mount Vernon community and Southern Illinois for almost 50 years.
We applaud and thank the thousands of artists, volunteers, staff members, and sponsors, as well as the countless business partners who have been part of this program throughout the years. We hope you will join us at the 2025 fair as we honor and say goodbye to our longest tradition: The Cedarhurst Art and Craft Fair.
* Narrative researched and written by Cheryl Settle
Cedarhurst Art and Craft Fair Chair, 2012-2025
