Catonsville Arts & Crafts Festival, 2019

This year's Catonsville Arts and Crafts Festival, on Sept 8, was held at a new location-- the Catonsville Community College.The parking lot where the festival was held provided overhead protection from the weather,  which was great.  The campus provided more, closer, and easier parking which the customers liked.  There seemed to be more people who came to shop and my sales for the day were better than the last couple of years.  With the new location, the sponsors were able to schedule a rain date for the following Sunday in case of really bad inclement weather.  A rain date is not possible for the long time Frederick Rd location because it is actually a state highway which cannot be closed down to traffic for 2 dates.
The only downside for the day, was the loss of the Catonsville street and community ambience-- particularly the restaurants along Frederick Rd which have participated in the festival for years.  The festival might have also lost a turnout of neighbors.

Catonsville Arts & Crafts Festival

The annual Catonsville Arts & Crafts Festival will be held Sunday, September 10th on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD.  10:00am- 5:00pm.  There are always more than 100 vendors selling a wide variety of handmade items, plus food, children's activities, and entertainment.

Come out.  Spend a leisurely day.  I will have 2 vendor spaces.  Watch the sidebar for more details as they become available.

Parkville/Carney and Catonsville Craft Shows

The Catonsville Craft Show was great.  For those not familiar with the show, it's held on Frederick Rd from Bloomsbury Ave west about 5 or 6 blocks.  Always lots of vendors- 256 this year.  The show always draws a large crowd, some are holiday shopping for interesting or unique items.  This year, there were more food vendors at the western end of the road- convenient to vendors at that end.  As usual, the show was well organized with plenty of volunteers and there were boy scouts and other youth eager to help set up tents and unload vehicles. The show has always been held on the second Sunday in September.  Put the date on your calendar.  I'll let you know my vendor booth number for next year.

Now, the Parkville/Carney Show on Saturday.  It was a total bust.  To be perfectly fair, it showered or rained all day.  A few people ventured out between the weather; but they weren't shopping.  There were only 2 blocks of vendors on Harford Rd.  The unusual thing is that there were maybe a dozen craft vendors. The other vendors were overwhelmingly local businesses and organizations.  Regular local vendors assured me that when the weather is nice, the street is crowded with attendees.  I'm not convinced that that would make a difference in shopping.  With the weather and no one shopping, I started packing up early.  Once and done for me.