War Eagle Craft Fair continues tradition of bringing people together

On crisp fall days dating back to the 1800s people have gathered at the War Eagle Mill located in a lush valley on the banks of War Eagle Creek. In the early years they came to have picnics and parties while waiting for their grain to be milled.

Today they come to browse through thousands of handmade items and feast on cornbread and beans in the Bean Palace Restaurant during the annual craft fair held during the third week of October.

This year more than 100,000 people walked through the valley as they shopped for handmade crafts at the War Eagle Mill Fall Craft Fair, located on the grounds of the Mill and at the other two fairs – the Sharp Arts & Crafts Show, located in the field adjacent to the Mill, and across the bridge at the War Eagle Fair. All three fairs ran from October 16-19.

“Each show is run by different organizations,” Liz Kapsner, marketing and sales coordinator for War Eagle Mill said. “People walk back and forth and it looks like one big fair,” she said.

The three fairs “bring a lot of people into the area and there are a lot of opportunities to find a variety of crafts, so it gives people more of an opportunity to find what they are looking for – Christmas gifts or the holidays. And there is an opportunity to be exposed to a lot of crafts,” Kapsner said.

The War Eagle Fair across the creek from the Mill began more than 60 years ago and the Mill’s fair and the Sharp Show followed 20 years later.

“It’s a fun activity we’ve been doing for the past 40 years and because our neighbors started doing it about 60 years ago, we just added on and made it a full experience with crafts and food and music too,” Kapsner said.

This year at the War Eagle Mill Fair there were professional artisans selling a wide variety of handmade items from jewelry to hand-painted Native American masks to woodcarvings to homemade soaps to wooden toys.

“There is a vast variety,” Kapsner said. “It’s a one stop shop.”

Renee Keene from Minnesota said four to six people out of her family have come to the show every year for the past 10 years.

“We always buy enough to go home with a full trailer,” she said.

In addition to the 30 vendor booths around the Mill, guests also enjoyed live music on the porch of the Mill. Brick Fields, a gospel/blues group played on Thursday and Friday, and Springstreet Band, played bluegrass on Saturday and Sunday. John Two Hawks, a Native American flutist, played each day inside the Mill.

The Mill offered breakfast and lunch in the Bean Palace Restaurant on the top floor of the building so that people could enjoy a hot meal before or after they shopped.

Kapsner said that often people don’t realize that the Mill is open and producing grain, just like it did in the 1800s.

“We have a working mill, a water-wheel powered working mill so that people can see how our grains are ground and speak to our miller,” she said.

“It’s not a museum. It is actually operating and you can shop our grains and eat in our restaurant,” she said. “People come to the fair, but they explore the mill too and are educated on how we grind grain since the 1800s.”