An Artsy Affair

Today Thanksgiving has become the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, with an overwhelming number of store flyers showing up in the Thanksgiving issue of many newspapers. For some, the November holiday is half family and mealtime, and half perusing Black Friday advertisements.

But if the very thought of waking up early for a potential fistfight over today’s must-have toy sends your heart rate up, maybe this is the year to consider a different approach.

Maybe this is the year to skip standing in long lines with other drowsy, anxiety-ridden shoppers at 5 am and instead, take advantage of the local scene while supporting students at the Friends of Gibraltar Holiday Art Fair in Sister Bay next weekend, Nov. 28 – 29.

The annual holiday art fair follows a simple motto to pull in its shoppers: shop locally, shop handmade. One look at the art fair’s selection and it is very obvious that they aren’t kidding.

Browse a selection of arts and crafts made by Door County artists, including beaded, vintage and precious metal clay jewelry, pottery, knit and woven woolens, watercolors, handmade soaps, handmade crafts, decorative painted woodcrafts, small exquisite boxes, woodcrafts, local specialty foods, needle felting, painted objects and collage jewelry, and knit and crocheted items.

And if you find your stomach grumbling after all that holiday shopping and browsing, sit down for a delicious lunch served from 11:30am – 2:30pm. Proceeds from the lunch benefit Friends of Gibraltar and are used to provide students at Gibraltar schools with unique learning opportunities.

The Friends of Gibraltar Holiday Art Fair will be held at Sister Bay Village Hall, 10693 Bay Shore Dr., on Friday from 10am – 5pm and Saturday from 10am – 4pm.