Crafty Christmas
IT’S THAT TIME of year again. Yep, time to start the Christmas shopping. If you’re keen to purchase handmade gifts from Top End creatives, including unique Christmas décor, round up the troops and head along to this year’s Tactile Arts Christmas Craft Fair!
Held annually in the air-conditioned comfort of the Darwin Convention Centre, it’s the most popular Craft Fair on the Tactile Arts calendar, attracting crowds of over 4,000. But the ante is being well and truly upped this year, with not one, but two days of Christmas fun to get those festive feels flowing.
Tactile Arts’ General Manager Tessa Duke says the decision to run the event over two days came from the extraordinary success of September’s Dragonfly Craft Fair.
“Our last craft fair, Dragonfly, was phenomenal, we had no expectation of what that event was going to be like and it was off the charts,” she says.
“It’s normally held in July to celebrate the Dry season, but we put off holding it until September to keep an eye on COVID. We had a lot of requests from the artists – they were really needing to have an outlet for their creativity and to connect with the community again.
“The Territory seemed to be in a pretty safe place, comparatively, and Darwin Waterfront were fully supportive to have Dragonfly there, given our Mothers’ Day event normally held there had to be cancelled, so we went for it!”
The Tactile Arts team is small but mighty, and with great support from a team of volunteers and the desire for a craft fair from the Top End community, Dragonfly was one of the biggest yet, with many creatives selling out of their stock.
Duke hopes the two-day format for the Christmas Craft Fair will have a similar effect.
“The application phase had a tighter turnaround to give stallholders maximum time to create their goods. Some stallholders will be joining us for either the Saturday or Sunday, as they sold out at Dragonfly and wouldn’t be able to make enough stock in time, which keeps it accessible for the artists and interesting for visitors who come on both days.”
With everything from ceramics to fabrics, functional to fine art, and all things in between, there’s plenty to explore. If the promise of unique, handcrafted items putting dollars in the pockets of locals wasn’t enough, perhaps two days of rolling activity will tickle your fancy.
“We’re looking at presenting public programming over the two days which is designed to appeal to families with kids of all ages, and to those who might want a bit more of a relaxed experience including a bar and live music. We encourage everyone to come join us and soak up the festive spirit, all in air-conditioned comfort!”
Tactile Arts Christmas Craft Fair
WHEN SAT 21 & SUN 22 NOV | 9AM-3PM
AT DARWIN CONVENTION CENTRE
COST $5 SINGLE ENTRY | $8 BOTH DAYS | FREE U16
INFO tactilearts.org.au
