Craft Fair
of the
Southern Highlands
Featured artist: Teresa Hays
THE VIRTUAL CRAFT FAIR
JULY 15-18 | ONLINE
Visitors are invited to visit this page during the four-day online craft event. Shop from a variety of fine craft directly from the makers through their online shops! Artists will be live streaming from their studios during the event on Facebook, Instagram, and Zoom. Raffle tickets will be sold through the Guild's online shop and there will be Giveaways on Instagram.
Education Raffle
The Southern Highland Craft Guild is an educational, non-profit organization. To support our mission and win a piece of fine craft - enter our raffle!
We will draw the names on Tuesday, July 20th ~ Follow us on Facebook to find out who the lucky winners are!
CRAFT FAIR OF THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS
OCT 14-17 | HARRAH'S CHEROKEE CENTER
Hosted in downtown Asheville at Harrah's Cherokee Center, artisans will fill both the concourse and arena levels of the venue, exhibiting a variety of craft ranging from contemporary to traditional in works of clay, wood, metal, glass, fiber, natural materials, paper, leather, mixed media, and jewelry.
History
The Guild's Craft Fair tradition started in 1948 in Gatlinburg, TN on the grounds of Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts. At this inaugural fair, the Guild connected visitors with the most talented craftsmen and showed the importance of handicrafts in the life of southern Appalachia.
Today
Today, the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands is held twice every year (July & October) in downtown Asheville, North Carolina at Harrah's Cherokee Center. It brings together hundreds of makers in what has become a key event for craft. These events are unique in that they offer attendees the opportunity to connect with the artists by purchasing directly from them. In an age of mass production and global imports, the connection to fine American craft and the individual maker is often lost but more significant than ever.
More than two hundred craftspeople fill two floors of the Civic Center twice each year. Local musicians play live on the arena stage; craft educators share their knowledge with adults and children alike through demonstrations and hands-on projects. Eleven thousand visitors from all over the country participate in festivities during the four days of the show. Over the course of the event, nearly a million dollars are invested in the purchase of crafts.
The unprecedented year of 2020 brought the Guild into the new age of virtual events and they successfully hosted their first-ever Virtual Craft Fairs of the Southern Highlands.
About the Guild
For 90 years, the Southern Highland Craft Guild has curated a group of juried artisans for the purpose of marketing, education, shared resources, and conservation of Appalachian Craft. Our four retail locations in Western North Carolina sell the work of over 800 of our juried members.
