Wrap up your holiday shopping at the Lansing Artisan Fair

With the season of giving upon us, this weekend marks the perfect time to grab local, handmade gifts for all those on your list!

The 12th annual Lansing Artisan Fair will take place this Friday and Saturday at All Saints Parish at 347 Ridge Rd. in Lansing. The fair will run Dec. 3 from 3 to 6 p.m. and Dec. 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The fair will feature 20 artists of various mediums, including fiber artists selling handmade, hand-sewn and hand-dyed clothing, felted items, knits and crochets; jewelers; photographers; a maple sugar vendor; two local bakers; and more!

Nikki Wells, chair of the Friends of the Lansing Community Library and an organizer of the Artisan Fair, explained how the Friends came to host the fair.

“A number of years ago, the friends organization kind of took over hosting the Artisan Fair, at the library,” Wells said. “The Artisan Fair has been going on for about 12 years, but it wasn’t always run by the Friends. And when they needed a new place, and a new group, to kind of take it over [because] that group of local makers and artisans didn’t want it to die, there happened to be a maker who was also a Friend. And she said, ‘Well, the library can do it.’ And so, we took over organizing the event.”

The Lansing Artisan Fair was originally called the Grey Barn Artisan Fair after its previous location on Peruville Road.

This year’s event will see both longtime and new artisan vendors local to Lansing and Tompkins County, as well as a raffle.

“So, one of the ways that we raise money for library users then, it’s not just the vendor booth fees,” Wells said. “But we also will run a raffle, and we ask each artisan to donate one item to a basket. We then raffle off two baskets that are filled with a variety of items from each of the donors right at the door. And so, those tickets will also be on sale. And we will have two winners that we will notify probably on Sunday afternoon, and they can pick up the basket at the library.”

Like other Friends groups, the Friends of the Lansing Community Library exist to support the library’s endeavors and to provide programming.

“The Friends is a group that supports the library and is kind of the main fundraising organization in addition to the grants and the budget that the library gets,” Wells said. “The Friends raise additional funds through donations, through running events and things like that.”

Wells went on to explain what fundraising allows the library to do.

“In the past, we’ve been able to raise anywhere between $800 to $1,000 for the library, which was a really, really big contribution to the budget,” Wells explained. “And all the money that the Friends gives to the library for their yearly budget, it all goes to purchasing things like collections, so new books, DVDs, CDs, sometimes technologies … as well as programming. We do offer adult programming as well as children’s programming. So, sometimes summer reading programs, the lot of the community services, they get utilized by the people who live in and around the Lansing area, and the Friends money goes to fund that.”

As for the event’s location, Wells expressed thanks and gratitude to All Saints Parish for allowing them to host the event there.

“We needed a new place to hold the Artisan Fair,” Wells said. “Due to COVID, we were no longer able to use the library and the community center like we have for the past few years. And so, that was a space that is allowing outside organizations to use it, first of all, and it would also allow for enough social distancing and capacity requirements that we can safely hold the event inside.”

Regarding payment, Wells said shoppers can expect mostly cash or check, and Venmo will likely be an option at some booths as well.

Attendees should note that while vaccinations are not required, all people who enter the parish center will need to wear a mask at all times. For more information and updates on the fair, visit its Facebook page at facebook.com/lansingartisanfair.

The Friends of Lansing Community Library is currently looking for new members to help support the library and the community.

“We would love to get more active Friends, board members,” Wells said. “We are really looking to have people who are interested in thinking creatively and new ways to fundraise for the library. We do have openings on our board right now, and we would love to talk to people who are interested in joining for 2022.”

Those looking for more information on the Friends of the Lansing Community Library can visit the library website at lansinglibrary.org/about/friends-of-lcl/. Wells invites anyone interested in joining the Friends to reach out to the library directly at info@lansinglibrary.org.

Lansing at Large appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.