Hill Family Fall Festival of Crafts a family and community tradition

SANDWICH – Hill Family Fall Festival of Crafts has become a tradition for Ken and Kathy Taft.

The Tafts travel more than 120 miles – two hours and 20 minutes – every year to attend the craft show, held at the Sandwich Fairgrounds on the last Thursday of September.

They live in Mukwonago, Wisconsin, and for the past eight years they have been vendors at the craft show with their business, Sasha’s Salad Dressings. They sell seven different types of all-natural salad and sandwich dressings that are gluten-, soy- and dairy-free and low in sodium.

The Tafts sell their wares at 60 to 100 arts and craft shows each year around the Midwest, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. Ken Taft describes the Hill Family Fall Festival of Crafts as the best one-day show he does each year.

“We first heard about the craft show from other vendors about eight years ago, and we signed up,” Taft said. “It’s been an incredible experience. We are crazy busy all day long. It’s absolutely the best one-day show we do. Even though the show is in Sandwich, a small community, it’s on par with the bigger shows we do. The number of attendees and vendors is huge. We have a great time every year, and it’s always a joy to do the show.”

This year, the 59th annual Hill Family Fall Festival of Crafts will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, at the Sandwich Fairgrounds, 1401 Suydam Road in Sandwich. Entrance costs $2 a person. Parking is included in the entrance fee and the craft show is handicapped accessible. Strollers and carts are not allowed in the buildings. The only open entrance to the fairgrounds will be the Suydam Road entrance. The Pratt Road entrance will be closed.

The Hill Family Fall Festival of Crafts is one of the oldest and largest family-run craft shows in the state. The show has 300 spaces occupied by more than 275 artisan crafters from Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio.

Vendors sell only handmade items such as wooden furniture; signs; outdoor, yard, home and holiday décor; jewelry; candles; baskets; doll clothing; ornaments; rag rugs; purses and totes; quilted items; fresh and dried floral arrangements; and sewn and embroidered clothing. Various homegrown pumpkins, gourds, mums and broom corn also will be available.

Judy Clymer of Glen Ellyn has been selling items she has made from fabric, including machine washable book covers, aprons, bibs and receiving blankets, at the craft show for more than eight years with her business Heavenly Creations.

“One reason I love coming back year after year to the craft show is that everything is handmade by the crafter,” Clymer said. “That, and the fact that it’s been going on for so many years attest to how great of a show it is.”

During the craft show, two buildings will serve food cafeteria-style with indoor seating available, two concession trailers will serve sandwiches and sides, and vendors will sell kettle corn, cinnamon roasted nuts, chocolates, toffee, brittles, baked goods and pretzels in various locations throughout the fairgrounds.

Karen Hill, the event’s organizer and promoter, said the Hill Family Fall Festival of Crafts has become a tradition not only for her family but for the community and residents throughout northern Illinois. More than 5,000 people attend the craft show every year.

The show was started by Hill’s husband’s grandmother, Ruth Hill, 59 years ago. Ruth Hill and her friends gathered on Thursdays in her basement to work on ceramic crafts. Thursday was chosen as the ladies’ day because their children were at school and their husbands were at work.

Once the word of what they were doing spread, people were interested in seeing the ladies’ work. Ruth Hill decided to throw a small show at her house, and every year, the craft show became bigger and bigger. In the 1970s, the show was moved to the Sannauk Forest Preserve and has since been moved to the Sandwich Fairgrounds.

Ruth Hill died in 1993. Her daughter Hellen Hill ran the show until her unexpected death in 2003. Since then, the show has been directed by Karen Hill, Ruth’s granddaughter-in-law.

“It has evolved from a hobby to a big craft show,” Karen Hill said. “I don’t think that Ruth ever imagined that it would turn into what it’s become. People come from all over the state because of the quality we expect from our vendors. We aren’t a flea market, and we don’t sell ordinary items you can go into a store and buy. We focus on original, handmade items. For us, it’s not a business, it’s a labor of love. It’s our way of preserving our family’s tradition and Ruth’s legacy.

Two other craft shows take place in Sandwich on the same day, Thursday, Sept. 28. The 20th annual Crafts under the Big Top will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in downtown Sandwich and Crafts at Indian Springs Shopping Center will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.