Montrose VFW craft fair readies locals for holiday season

11/19/25
By Louis Gauthier
MONTROSE — With the calendar moving ever so deeper into the holiday season, the Montrose VFW’s banquet hall bustled with activity on Sunday as it hosted a Craft Fair, offering a welcome contrast to the blustery fall winds outside. Amanda Arnold, manager of the VFW, explained that the organization is always “working to support the community” and that the fair was “another way to get more involved with the community.” Arnold said that there were more than 30 vendors in attendance as she staffed her own table of crafts featuring bracelets crafted by her niece and a variety of sweet baked treats created by herself.
Setup for the event was a family affair as Arnold detailed how she, her sister, and two sons worked to set up the banquet hall for the event the evening before.

Vendors from near and far showed up to showcase their wares, including Hope Livermore who traveled from Harpursville, NY to showcase her home baked goods. Livermore stated she “loves the Fourth of July here (in Montrose)” and decided to come down for this fall fair.
Traveling from a bit closer was budding entrepreneur Alyssa Wiser from Brackney, showcasing her selection of handmade slimes that she creates for her business Little Wiser Slime. She described how she started the venture as a way to save for a goal of going on a wild game safari to South Africa, a goal she realized this past July after a little over two years of effort. A regular presence at the Fourth of July and Christmas celebration events in Montrose, she branched out this year to appear at the Harford and Bloomsburg fairs saying that the experience has “helped me learn to communicate more with people.” Her next goal, she said, is to save for a car.

The holiday season was definitely a motivator that brought Stephanie Eberhardt and Lisa Berry, partners in L and S Crafts, from Lawton out to the event to showcase their holiday themed wares. “Christmas is our favorite time to do crafts and come out to meet people,” Eberhardt said, “who doesn’t love Christmas?”
The fair proved to be a big hit with shoppers. Melissa and Kevin Brewer from Meshoppen came out to do some holiday shopping because as Kevin Brewer said, they like these kinds of events and supporting their friend JoAnn Clark of Springville. Clark, who sells her soy-based candles at the Slanted Art Co-op in Montrose, was attending her first craft show with her venture Earth & Embers Candle Co. and was happy to see such “good turnout and traffic.”
Friends Rhonda Pitcher and Linda Kemmerer from Little Meadows said they “seem to find our way to a lot of craft fairs in the spring and fall,” adding that it’s “a great excuse to get out and see what people are doing.”

The Smith family – Aspen, Debbie, and Todd – also seemed to enjoy the event as they made their way to their vehicle carrying their purchases, with Debbie exclaiming it was a “great experience,” noting they’d found “lots of Christmas presents, plus some calories!”
With the Christmas in Montrose celebration just around the corner on the first weekend of December, Sunday’s VFW Craft Fair seemed to be an excellent warm up for the festive holiday period ahead on the calendar.