TORRINGTON – Coming from three different states, venders brought their crafts to sell at the Lions Club Summer Arts and Craft Festival on Saturday in Pioneer Park.
The proceeds collected are used for low income people to purchase eyewear, eye surgeries and hearing aids. Lions also helps with disaster relief, giving grants to a community up to $10,000.
“This is our fourth annual Lions Summer Arts and Craft Festival,” said past Wyoming district Governor Val Grant. Lions have hosted “the Holiday Craft Fair for the past 35 to 40 years.”
Rex Fritzler came from Guernsey with his sister Connie Wibbens from Laramie to sell some of the crafts the family makes during the winter.
“That’s what ranchers do in the winter,” Fritzler said. “We make things”
He welds, but one of the hardest things he makes are walking sticks. Whittling them in his hunting camp and at home, taking his time to make them.
Matthew Hickman from Torrington makes metal flowers and butterflies. Matthew started his part-time business in his home. It can take up to a few hours to make some of the larger flowers. “A 16 inch rose unpainted will take 20 to 30 minutes to make but the three foot or four outdoor roses will take two to three hours,” Said Hickman.
He is designing more flat art for Wyoming but he prefers sculpture art like the roses and their beauty.
Larry and Debbie Eutsler have been doing the Lions Arts and Craft Festivals for more than 30 years, selling at the Lions Club Holiday Fair in Torrington for 15 years and the last four years for the Lions Summer Arts and Craft Festival. Debbie likes to work with empty wine bottles.
This year she made sleeves with the last name initials on them. She put flowers in the bottles, which can be changed out for different occasions.
They brought what was last year’s best seller for them – bird feeders made of a wine bottle that looks like a small bird bar. It is self-filling so the glass in the middle will never be empty.
Eight cadets from the Cowboy Challenge Academy came to help with the Lions Summer Arts and Craft Festival.
“Part of the program is service for the community and they must have a certain amount of community hours to graduate,” Rochelle Stiett said.
The Cadets helped venders to set up booths and take them down when the festival is over. They also helped people carry their purchases to their vehicles.
“The fair in the fall has always done well,” Grant said. “So has the one at Oregon Trail Days always done well in the summer so we decided to do a summer one.”
This year the Lions had a bike rodeo along with the craft festival and plan to have one next year and possibly a bike ride in the future. The bike rodeo was sponsored by Blazer Bike Shop and D G’s Bicycle Repair Shop. Eastern Wyoming Eye Clinic, Vision Source and Fisher and Weisshaar Accounting provided prizes.
