Holiday Treasures offers unique way to Christmas shop in unique venue
Courtesy of Kelly Edgar
Kelly Edgar displays one of her hooked rugs.
Courtesy of Bob Fleszar
Bob Fleszar works on the Three Wise Men as part of a pewter Nativity set. Also shown are a few of many pewter ornaments he has produced. All the pewter is hand-poured in molds made at the studio, and hand-polished to a bright finish.
Courtesy of Barbara Campbell
A view of the home of Barbara and Malcolm Campbell, which is built into a hillside in Fayette County.
Before Barbara and Malcolm Campbell moved in 1986 into their ranch-style house, built into a hillside and sheltered on three sides by earthen mounds, they consulted with an architect and contracted out the construction.
“What we had in mind was a house built into the hill that would help retain heat,” Campbell said. “Because it faces south-southeast and has large plate glass windows in front, it’s passive solar heated with a free-standing chimney and tile floors that also help retain heat.”
Perched on a hill in Grindstone, Fayette County, with a sweeping view of the mountains and the Jumonville cross in the distance, their cozy, if unique, home is transformed each holiday season into a market where regional artists showcase their works of handmade, all-American items.
To get everything ready for their Holiday Treasures show, the Campbells clear the furniture and plants out of the rooms and into their extra bedrooms to make room for the artists and their creations. Now in its 36th annual incarnation, Holiday Treasures will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
“We’ll have a variety of media on hand so the artists don’t compete with one another,” Barbara Campbell said. “A person could shop here and probably do all their gift-buying in one spot.”
As they stroll through the house, patrons looking over everything from ornaments, folk art and jewelry to handmade soaps, pewterware and baskets, will be able to sample foods like candies, breads, baked goods, dips and jams and jellies. If they taste something they especially like, the gourmet items will be available for purchase.
Barbara Campbell, who’s been a weaver for 35 years, will be selling her various colored, hand-spun, wool yarn, some of which comes from the 25 or so sheep grazing in the farm’s pastures.
She’ll also display some of the jackets, scarves and ponchos she’s woven along with some marbled silk scarves.
Two of the original artists who’ve participated in the annual sale, Valerie Gmutza of Blainsburg will bring along her crocheted items like dishcloths, counted cross-stitch work and potpourris while Rebecca Rankin-Smiley of Washington will feature her jewelry, watercolor paintings and calligraphy.
“We jury in the guest artists each year and look for those that make quality work,” Campbell said.
From Uniontown, pewtersmith Bob Fleszar has been participating in Holiday Treasures for many years and is bringing in a big line of items. His work includes everything from sports figurines, cat and dog figures and musical instruments to bracelets, miniature nativity sets, salt cellars and Christmas ornaments such as Christmas trees and snowflakes – all made of pewter.
A Holiday Treasures newcomer this year, Kelly Edgar of Low Hill (Centerville Borough) will bring some of her hooked rug items, including many small pieces like six-inch Christmas tree ornaments that can be hung on a tree or stood upright as a table top holiday decoration.
“Rug hooking started in Nova Scotia, where people would work on any fabric they had on hand, including burlap, to make their items,” said Edgar, who’s been active in the craft for at least 25 years. “In my work, I don’t stick to the rules but combine different techniques.”
Edgar said she still uses burlap as her base for her creations, then hooks into the recycled fabric base woolen strips about a quarter-inch wide torn of clothing she purchases at local thrift stores.
Prices at Holiday Treasures start at $4 for soaps and some candies like English toffee, almond bark and winter mix up to $150 for Nantucket baskets, extremely durable baskets made from very fine reeds by James Tomasek of Hopwood, who also makes a variety of other woven baskets.
During the sale, at least three or four artists will be on hand at all times to answer questions about their work and help out with the sales. Purchases can be made only with cash or check as no credit cards are accepted.
To advertise the sale, Campbell and the other artists pitch in enough money to send out approximately 1,200 postcards to people on the event’s mailing list.
The origin of Holiday Treasures is credited to Charlotte Edwards of California, who decided that her son, John, and other local artists needed a place to showcase their work. Deaf and somewhat handicapped, John did amazing crochet work, and his mother decided to organize a special show during the Christmas holidays at a house they owned on Wood Street in California.
“Charlotte knew me because we were both members of the local Rotary club,” Campbell said. “For two or three years, we held the event at her house in California. After she died, we struggled to find another venue until my husband and I moved into our current home on Indian Hill Farm in Grindstone.”
“The move here has worked out beautifully,” Campbell continued. “There’s plenty of parking, the driveway will be plowed if it snows, and the view of the mountains is great. Holiday Treasures is a pleasant, relaxed event where people often run into folks they haven’t seen in a while. And it’s a convenient way to get to meet regional artists on a one-to-one basis.”
The Holiday Treasures Show and Sale will take place at 1194 Grindstone Road in Grindstone, one quarter-mile south of the intersection of Route 40 and Grindstone Road near Brownsville. For more information, phone 724-785-5715.