Honey vendor Mark Johns enjoyed his first Kent Holiday Craft Market so much that he’s coming back this year.
“It’s really well-attended,” said Johns, who found success at last year’s holiday market with his honeys and beeswax items. “There are a variety of vendors and a lot of really good crafts. It’s a real nice atmosphere with holiday music from a piano player and from singers. It’s one of our favorites, if not the favorite.”
The 23rd annual Holiday Craft Market runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Kent Senior Activity Center, 600 E. Smith St.
A total of 70 vendors will sell hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind gifts. Senior center staff will serve a hot, homemade lunch each day. Several groups will provide holiday music.
The market is one of the major fundraisers – through vendor fees – for the city-owned senior center.
“We always get really good turnouts,” said Cindy VandenBerg, a program coordinator at the center and organizer of the event. “People know the products are of high quality from good artists. They also like the food, from the baked goods to the lunch. It gets them in a festive mood.”
Johns, of Carnation, attended the Kent market last year for the first time. He works as a beekeeper and sells raw honey through Tolt River Farm and Crafts, also known as Misty Mountain Honey. Karen Johns, Johns’ wife, will be selling handcrafted beeswax candles at the market.
“It’s nice to have a place where local crafts people can go because it helps them out,” Mark Johns said of the Kent market.
Johns said he started to sell honey about eight years ago. He often sells at farmers’ markets during the spring and summer at Issaquah, Sammamish, North Bend and Carnation.
Johns makes a variety of raw honeys including blackberry, cranberry, echinacea, fireweed, maple and raspberry.
“We’re a small-scale company,” Johns said. “There’s not a lot of unprocessed honey, so we don’t sell in any big volumes.”
A committee selects the vendors each year for the Holiday Craft Market.
“It’s a juried show,” VandenBerg said. “Venders send in sample items and the jury panel selects them or not. Once a vendor is in, they are invited back unless the quality of their product is not what it was.”
Vendors will sell such products as jewelry, slate mirrors, candles, glass items, photos, holiday decorations, wood items, knit items and even art made from ghords.
“We have a wide variety,” VandenBerg said.
IF YOU GO
What: Kent Holiday Craft Market
When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday
Where: Kent Senior Activity Center, 600 E. Smith St.
Cost: Free
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