Renegade Craft Fair in McCarren Park JUNE 17 and 18, 2006. Go here for info.

The Renegade Craft Fair is a unique DIY event organized by Sue Blatt + Kathleen Habbley.
When this event began in 2003, there was nothing else like it. We took
up crafts as a hobby after college and decided to try selling our stuff
in local fairs. To our surprise, no events were catering to the
burgeoning DIY craft community or even prohibited crafts all together.
So we thought of organizing a fair of our own that tapped into this
movement and provided a laid back, fresh venue for artists and shoppers
alike.

The
timing of the Renegade Craft Fair was perfect since it coincided with
the resurgence of crafting as a new generation of people have reclaimed
crafts and put a contemporary spin on them. At the RCF you’ll find all
sorts of cool stuff ranging from comic books to cool craft patterns,
and gigposters to reconstructed clothing.

In its first year, we had
originally hoped for 40-50 local people to join, but when applications
started pouring in from all over the country, we had to jury the first
fair and we ended-up having 75 vendors showcasing the coolest crafts
around. We knew we had filled a void and began brainstorming how we
could make the fair bigger and better. The Renegade Craft Fair now
takes place in Chicago and Brooklyn, NY, each with over 150 vendors,
and we hope to one day add a west coast event to our schedule. We also
plan on opening a storefront within the next year, so keep a look out
for us if you’re in Chicago!

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