Annual Christmas Craft ‘EG’stravaganza slated

The 27th annual Christmas Craft ‘EG’stravaganza at the Edith Kanaka‘ole Tennis Stadium is slated for the weekend before Thanksgiving, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 21-22.

Everyone is invited to join in the festivities and enjoy crafts from throughout the state, California and Japan, festive music, games and more than $2,000 in hand-crafted door prizes. Trivia buffs will enjoy the myriad of questions, and returning shoppers have a chance to be a Mystery Shopper.

It is the end of a crafting era: After 27 years of producing craft fairs, EGstravaganza promoter Evelyn Garbo is bidding a fond farewell to her “baby,” as she rides into the Denver sunset.

The Hilo YMCA was the first site of the fledgling Hilo Craft Fair, where Garbo gathered 40 crafters from throughout the island. The site was too small in a year and the show was moved to Hilo High School, where it blossomed into a very successful venue for not only local crafters, but also drew the interest of off-island artisans.

An active crafter herself, Garbo has travelled regularly to California, Washington and Oregon, and as far as New York and Canada to participate in shows and has met and enticed crafters to her own little show on the Big Island. She even was a featured artist at the Los Angeles Japanese American National Museum’s gift shop and catalog with her Japanese good luck charm pins.

Serving as the Big Island editor for the classic “Island Craft Bulletin,” a monthly publication for crafters listing all craft fairs in the state, Garbo also has taught classes on crafting and the business of crafting.

Garbo’s role as producer has brought to her everything from unplugging toilets stuffed with plate lunches, to flooding waterfalls and nighttime power outages at the tennis stadium, to heart attacks of vendors and customers, theft rings and brainstorming about how to outsmart the advent of “googling” to answer trivia questions, to name a few.

“You’d think that after 27 years the show would run itself, but we always have an evaluation meeting directly after each show and we inevitably tweak and adjust the show every year — it is constantly evolving and has a life of its own,” Garbo said.

It will be a bittersweet show this year.

“There will definitely be a period of adjustment of letting go for me,” she said.

She is pleased that local resident and fellow jewelry artist Kim Sasaki will take over the reins of the show.

“After 27 years, I can’t just turn it off, so I hope to assist Kim in both our transitions,” Garbo said.

She invites everyone to join her in her “Swan Song.”

“Come and reminisce the last 27 years of craft fairs: the good old days,” Garbo said. “There promises to be great shopping, food and tons of fun at this year’s holiday celebration.”

Fair hours are 5-10 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. There is a $2 admission charge for those 12 years old and older, but the last hour before closing each day will be free for last-minute purchases and pick-ups.

For more information, call EGplants at 959-7389.