PENFIELD – It’s time once again for the annual High Country Arts & Crafts Fair. It will be held July 11 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at S.B. Elliott State Park. This is the 22nd year for this event.
The Clearfield Elks operates the majority of the food concessions at this event, which includes barbeque chicken, hot sausage and meatball sandwiches, hot dogs, pierogies, pies and cold drinks. The chicken barbecue dinners are $7 each and advance sale tickets are available from the Clearfield Elks Lodge, located at 301 N. Second St., Clearfield (765-5711) or from a past exalted ruler. Tickets will also be available for sale the day of the event on the front porch of the Pennsylvania Center. The proceeds from the food sales all go to charity.
Additionally, the Susquehanna Antique Machinery Association will have its homemade ice cream for sale, Kountry Kitchen Kettle Korn of DuBois will be there, and the Moshannon Valley Chapter No. 131 of the International Order of Rainbow Girls will be selling baked goods.
The fine arts and crafts will fill 162 spaces. This event is open only to Pennsylvania vendors and allows no commercially or mass produced products.
Some examples of the wide variety of goods that are available for sale are hand painting on a wide variety of materials ranging from barn boards to slate, smoked cheeses, soy and gel candles, bath and body products, plants, hand crocheted and knitted items, hand sewing, leather goods, saw art, wood crafts ranging from bird houses to benches, intarsia, dolls and doll clothing, jams, jellies and sauces, floral arrangements, jewelry, home décor on slate, lawn and garden décor, hand carved stone and wood, hand-painted turkey feathers, seasonal, laser engraving on wood, tole painting, pencil and charcoal art, potpourri, baby clothes and items, rugs, clay and ceramic products, rock candles, pet products, toys and puzzles, primitive crafts, holiday décor, quilting, hand mixed spice and seasoning blends, gourmet chocolates, floor cloths, sandstone pottery and much more.
Bonnie Whaling and her spinners of Clearfield will be demonstrating how to spin wool and T & D Carvings of Brockport will have chainsaw carving demonstrations.
Entertainment is provided throughout the day. Robert Guarino, the organist for the Clearfield Elks Lodge will be set up on the front porch of the Pennsylvania Center and will be playing popular tunes all day.
New this year will be Dennie Huber, a magician and balloon artist from the Altoona area, who will be performing on the stage from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Also new this year will be the Calvary Boys, a gospel group. They will be performing from 1:30 to 3:30 or 4 p.m.
A site map and list of vendors will be made available to everyone who attends.
There will be boxes of these flyers distributed throughout the park and will also be available at the table where chicken dinner tickets are being sold.
There is free shuttle service from the parking area to the event and back.
The continued success of this event is due in no small part to the hard work of 90-plus volunteers; the cooperation of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; the park manager of Parker Dam and S.B. Elliott State parks, Beth Grove, and the park managers who preceded her.
The sponsor of this event is the Past Exalted Rulers Association of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America, Clearfield Lodge Number 540. Throughout the years, as a result of this event, the P.E.R. Association has donated thousands of dollars to local charities such as the Scouting programs, Clearfield High School Field House, Music Boosters, Marian House women’s shelter, Clearfield County Society for Handicapped and Disabled Citizens, Clearfield Emergency Medical Services, Clearfield Ministerium Food Pantry Inc., Clearfield County Area Agency on Aging, Salvation Army, Second Mile, Clearfield-Lawrence Airport, Clearfield-Jefferson Red Cross, Elks charities and scholarship programs and many others.
S.B. Elliott State Park is located between Clearfield and Penfield on state Route 153 north, half a mile off of Interstate 80 at exit 111.
For more information, contact Bev or Bill Lawhead at 765-5667 or blawhead@verizon.net or write to High Country, P.O. Box 379, Hyde, PA 16843.
