Mancos fair to spotlight local artisans, benefit families

Mancos Valley Arts and Crafts Street Fair to aid Excelsior workers
Hot air balloons are expected to be at the Mancos Valley Arts and Craft Street Fair on Sept. 30, though the balloon festival has been canceled.

Mancos’ Grand Avenue will host the 14th annual Mancos Valley Arts and Crafts Street Fair on Sept. 30.

The fair will have a large variety of artisans, according to Carrie Summers Baikie, coordinator of the fair.

“Grand Avenue is going to be closed off, and we have a variety of different vendors, from oil painters, furniture makers to jewelers,” Summers Baikie said. “There are going to be a bunch of farmers market vendors there as well.”

The balloon festival itself has been canceled, but hot air balloons will still be a part of the event.

“There is not really a balloon festival anymore,” Summers Baikie said. “The balloons are just launching on Friday and Saturday morning at sunrise.”

The event is still accepting reservations for vendor booths at $30 each. Profits from booth reservations will go to the “Pay it Forward” campaign.

“Pay It Forward goes to helping families in need, and specifically, they help all the families displaced by the fire at the Excelsior plant,” Summers Baikie said.

Many families were displaced after a fire destroyed the Western Excelsior plant in Mancos on May 8.

In 2015, the company employed about 100 workers in Montezuma County, and about 42 percent of them live in Mancos, a report from Region 9 Economic Development states. Western Excelsior jobs represented about 14 percent of jobs in the town.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information on booth reservations, contact Carrie Summers Baikie at 970-759-2540.

erice@the-journal.com

Sep 15, 2017
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