Spring events feature local vendors, crafters

ROME TOWNSHIP — Organizers of a Spring Fair at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds on Saturday said turnout was strong and that they hope to repeat the event next year.

“It went great,” Brandi Ross,” of Hometown Love Rome, the nonprofit who organized the event, said. “And we had tons of vendors.”

Ross said vendors sold plenty of maple syrup and apple butter at the event, which had more than 100 presenters and that 50 saplings were given out to attendees

She said the Rock Hill and Ironton garden clubs were present for the fair and that a sign-up was started to create a similar garden club in the Proctorville area.

Presenters included Marshall University, with a display on composting, Tarheelbilly Farms, with honey and maple syrup and Melwood Farms, who had St. Croix sheep on hand.

Also presenting animals were Tom and Judy Ross, of Good News Llamas. Judy Ross did double duty over the weekend, bringing her animals to the Spring Fair, then, after finishing there, she went to Mountain Health Arena in Huntington, West Virginia, where she took part for a second day at the first annual Wayward Threads Expo, with her company, Back Porch Fibers, which offers products made from the llamas’ hair.

One of the things she was selling there were framed pieces of art, which layered yard and fabric.

The expo was a fiber arts show, the first of its kind in the area and featured fiber, quilting and stained-glass vendors onsite, along with live demonstrations, classes, informational booths, a book signing, lecture, live music and more.