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Fruit spreads, Christmas ornaments, handbags, hats and clothing filled Cal Expo during the 37th Harvest Festival Original Arts and Crafts Show Friday.

The festival is a weekend-long event with 270 arts and crafts booths and a variety of musical performances, from the Fargo Brothers and Tom Rigney and Flambeau to name a few, as well as food booths, such as Cocina Mexicana and Southwest Café.

Account Executive Liz Stigge said a crowd of about 15,000 is expected to attend throughout the weekend.

The Harvest Festival has nine shows, including eight in California, that are held in cities with a passion for crafts.

“We usually pick places that are routed in an arts culture,” Stigge said. “The whole series of shows has been around for 37 years, and the Sacramento show is almost up there with the original, which was held in San Francisco.”

The vendors come from all over the country and are hand-selected by a jury of about 15, which include members of the show management and a selected board of artisans.

To be part of the festival, all work must be hand-crafted and hand-made

Local food vendor Mark Brtek has been promoting his Singing Pig spreads and dips at the festival for 10 years.

“A lot of people come to the Harvest Festival every year, and you can count on the customers getting excited,” he said. “They just get a really good following. The Harvest Festival is always consistent.”

Brtek said he gets about 200 repeated customers every year.

Teri and Mark VanAirsdale, who have been attending the festival for about 20 years, said Brtek’s wine garlic mustard and the beautiful crafts keep bringing them back.

“We come back to see if there is new stuff,” Mrs. VanAirsdale said. “But right now I’m looking for Singing Pig, they have the best garlic mustard.”

The VanAirsdales said they do some Christmas shopping at the festival, and every year they end up leaving with gifts for family members and friends.

Other booths included Virgi Bondi's Eggstra Special Christmas ornaments, which are made from a variety of egg shells.

Bondi prides herself off her slogan "they'll survive a toddler and Christmas tree."

"I lacker all my eggs," she said.  "I can also personalize the back of any egg with liquid gold."

Bondi is a local vendor from Roseville who has been showcasing her work at the Harvest Festival since 1994.  Bondi said even though she is a local vendor, she still has various repeat customers every year.

Margie Waite, who has been attending the festival since 2002, was excited to see Bondi's booth back at the festival.

"I always try to come back and look for the different ornaments, specifically NFL teams," she said.  " I collect them and put them on my (Christmas) tree."

Regular Attendee Nancy Church said she believes the Harvest Festival comes just in time for the holiday season.

“There is always certain little booths you go back to and look for,” Church said. “And I inevitably always find two or three Christmas gifts.”

Church and longtime friend Cheri Soden have been attending the Harvest festival for more than 20 years.

Soden said the festival not only gives her the opportunity to do some Christmas shopping, it also allows her time to spend with a good friend.

“It’s just something that we do together,” Soden said. “We even have a routine.  We walk around the edge first and work our way up and down the center.”

Cal Expo will host the Harvest Festival through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  General admission is $9, seniors admission is $7 and youth is $4.

For more information visit www.harvestfestival.com. 

Photo Credit: Nallelie Vega