Millersville’s Crochet Club, a newer addition to the campus as of last year, hosted their Arts & Crafts Fair for the public on Nov. 6. From 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Student Memorial Center Atrium, students, faculty, and staff had the opportunity to become vendors for this event with arrangements of crochet pieces, jewelry, and more.
Sidney Bernhardt, a junior history and secondary education major, currently serves as the president for the Crochet Club and helped arrange this event.
“[The fair] is so fun because it does build community a lot, and even just seeing what your classmates or staff members are up to in their free time,” said Bernhardt. “This is something that I love to do personally, and I love being able to share that with other people that I know and don’t know.”
Bernhardt also runs her own business, Yellow Yarn Crafts, outside of tabling events.
“I think [owning a business] is super fun. It does require a lot of organization, and, you know, being able to plan ahead and things like that, but if that’s something you’re interested in, then I would totally recommend it,” Bernhardt said. “It’s a lot of fun and it’s cool. You get to build a lot of skills too, not just your craft, but interacting with people and managing your business is really valuable stuff to learn.”
Vendors for this event were not required to have an official business, which allowed for many to join just for the love of crafting.
Hayley Furfari, a senior interactive graphic design major, was part of the group of vendors tabling during the event.
“I honestly don’t do this as a business,” Furfari said. “This is just more for fun, honestly, but I’d like to potentially do a side hustle with this and in the future, maybe, but I kind of just got into it because it’s fun and I get to make a little extra cash on the side, so it’s nice.”
Events such as this allow not only for students to test out how they feel about selling products, but also enacts a community of support for crafters at Millersville.
“It helps people engage with the community, and it also helps you get your name out there. People see your stuff and it promotes students as well,” said Furfari. “Especially students that do have businesses like Etsy businesses and stuff, this is really good for helping them promote their business. So that’s why we decided to try to do this and we’re potentially thinking about doing it again next semester, depending on how well this craft fair does.”
For more information on events and meetings hosted by the Crochet Club, you can find more information on their Instagram @ville_crochetclub.
