By Bruce Karnick

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The Pleasant Hill Library held a kids’ craft fair on the lawn of the library on Thursday, July 28. There were over a dozen families who brought their crafts to sell for affordable prices from 10 a.m. to noon.

The library had a simple application for families to fill out and there were very specific rules to follow. The sellers must be ages 4 to 18. The group must be registered in advance and all crafts must be made by the children who are registered. Finally, all items must be priced between one cent and $3. They also did not allow the selling of food or drink, or reselling of merchandise, games of chance like a fishpond, or services like face painting.

The families began setting up around 9 a.m. to be open by 10 a.m. and there was plenty to choose from. Bead art key chains, water bead art, hair ties, coasters, crocheted stuffed animals, crocheted Christmas gnomes, fidget toys, slime, candles, paintings and more. One of the more creative projects were relaxation bottles: water bottles filled with a mixture of water and glitter with a nontoxic third component that helps maintain the suspension of the glitter in the water. We wouldn’t want to give away the ‘trade secret’ would we? Think snow globe only much more mesmerizing and a much longer suspension time.

Another extremely creative group was selling kids comics. The two artists work together to create kid friendly short comics. One of the kids was the writer who focused on the story while the other was the illustrator that brought the ideas to life.

The families that participated agreed that it was a fun event and it helped motivate the kids to get away from electronics and do something fun. Many of them even planned specific craft times each week leading up to the fair to make sure they had enough product to sell while having fun being makers.

One of the coolest part comes at the end of the sales day. Kids can walk around and offer trades with other kids to share each other work. It’s something each of the kids looks forward too.

The event was a success and will be continuing as part of the library’s programming in the future.

The Dakota County Pleasant Hills Library hosted a two-hour kids craft fair in Hastings on July 28. More than a dozen families participated in the fair. Photo by Bruce Karnick

One of the many options for kids made crafts, bead art! Here are a variety of bead art keychains that shoppers could purchase, all made by local families. Photo by Bruce Karnick

Sadie Blanch and Nora Meyer work out a trade with mom Mallory Meyer in the background. Up for grabs is a water balloon yo-yo and curler bead art. The trade phase is a favorite among participants.

Photo by Bruce Karnick