Crafticopia Aims to Bring Community Together
RLC event offers crafts, pesto, Indian food, live music, and more
For the City-Times
Redeemer Lutheran Church is throwing open its doors to the public with Crafticopia, its first-ever “craft show and more,” to be held 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, at the church.
Crafticopia has more than 40 vendors selling handcrafted goods, but that’s just the start. The event also offers homemade jams and pestos, a silent auction, pumpkins and other harvest-time produce, kids’ activities, live music, Indian food from SHAMA, and more.
“We wanted this to be a true community celebration,” said the Rev. Annie Edison-Albright, RLC’s pastor. “So from the start we looked beyond the parameters of the usual craft show and asked ourselves: How can we showcase our partners? How can we involve the community? How can we let the community know how much we appreciate their involvement?”
Among those community partners is SHAMA, the local organization that supports projects that empower women in India. SHAMA uses RLC’s kitchen to prepare the food it sells at the Portage County
Cultural Fest and the Energy Fair, among other places. It was approached about preparing and selling food at Crafticopia, and readily accepted the invitation.
In addition to homemade jams, RLC members will be selling pesto made from basil that comes from RLC’s on-site garden. Church members have been making pesto for years according to a secret recipe, and now they’re sharing their pesto – but not their recipe – with the community.
“Nothing beats fresh pesto,” Rev. Edison-Albright said. “We know people will taste the difference, and we hope people will spread the word about Redeemer pesto.”
The live music will spotlight groups and performers from the church plus other performers from around the community. Similarly, the kids’ activities will be led by congregation members and community organizations.
“Crafticopia is a true collaboration,” she said. “We look forward to sharing it with the community.”
For more information on Crafticopia, contact the church at 715-341-3233 or email [email protected]. Crafticopia can also be followed on Facebook at “Crafticopia Stevens Point.”