TORRINGTON – The Goshen County Fairgrounds came alive once again this weekend as the location hosted the tenth annual Yee Haw Daze on Friday, October 4 and Saturday, October 5. 

The craft and artisan market spread throughout three buildings and into the breezeway at the grounds where the community 4-H building was decorated in old rustic charm from some of the most talented crafters around. 

Lori Schafer has been working on the event since it was first organized ten years ago with the expectation of a couple of years.. 

“I started it ten years ago and I had a young couple of girls that did two shows and I have done the rest,” Schafer explained.

Schafer recognized the talents of many local people within the community, and she developed the idea to help showcase the experience the community had to offer in the form of arts and handmade goods. 

“To give local vendors an outlet. We have a lot of talented craftsman and artisans in the area and I wanted to give them an outlet to showcase their items and also to bring people from outside of the county, into our county,” Schafer said. “We have a spectacular venue at the fairgrounds.”  

According to Schafer, counting the vendors wasn’t easy because some of the booths had multiple vendors. 

“It’s really hard to know [how many vendors], within one booth area. For instance, there were two booths that represented three vendors, so I don’t always know.” Shafer explained. “One person rents the booth. My booth, for instance, represented four different vendors. There were over 50, I can tell you that. There’s not as many spaces as there are vendors.”

Schafer admits she is already working on the next year’s festivities. 

“I schedule the buildings we are the first weekend of October, so I get on the calendar for the buildings,” Shafer explained. “It’s kind of a year-round process but certainly not every day. It doesn’t require something every day.” 

Schafer explained vendors traveled from all areas of Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado and even Iowa and she also feels there is room for expansion. 

“I think there is room for expansion,” Schafer explained. “When I first started this, I kind of had that festival atmosphere in mind. Right now, on that side of the fairgrounds, we are filling all of the buildings that are secure.”

Schafer expressed, in order for the event to be on multiple days, it’s important to use the buildings which can be locked so vendors can leave their items.

“A multiple-day thing kind of requires that, but I still do believe there is room for expansion, as I said, a record number of vendors this year,” Schafer said. “Those people were tickled to death to be outside. The weather was cooperative. Gosh, it was a beautiful weekend. Just in conversation with shoppers, we had shoppers from Casper, Glendo, Douglas, Alliance, Laramie and not just one,” Shafer said. “That’s huge for our community.”