Local Craft Show Offers Gifts, Therapy

When winter swings around, the Fleetwood community knows to expect the annual Craft Show. On November 16th, over 150 vendors flushed through the halls of Fleetwood Area High School, boasting all kinds of special items, including handcrafted jewelry, decorative mugs, winter attire, and candles.

It’s true that local talent always finds a home here, and these crafters find ways to express themselves through their art. But not all of these vendors selling their handcrafted items consider themselves “crafters”? When talking to Thomas Lance, a Fleetwood resident selling delicate wooden bowls, he shook his head at the title. 

“I do this because I really enjoy it, and it relaxes me. When I come home from work, or if I’m [dealing with] any kind of stressful day, I guess some guys would go golfing.” Lance chuckled. “I don’t golf. I go down in my basement, in my little workshop, and I put a piece of wood on the lathe, and this is what comes out.” 

Lance has been selling his bowls for about 20 years, and they are all sourced from local wood. Instead of seeing it as a hobby or an occupation, he views his bowl-making as a kind of therapy. 

“My stressful days inspire me to do this,” Lance said. “It’s a release. It calms me down.” 

To many craft show vendors, creation is catharsis. It becomes a way to openly vent emotions, and to fashion beauty from unfortunate circumstances. 

During COVID-19, Matthew Biniek, a former teacher at Fleetwood Area High School, began Biniek’s Baubles. He needed something to keep him occupied during the pandemic. While his wife took on water color painting, Matthew started making jewelry. 

“It was crap, the… stuff I made the first year. Horrible. Now it’s better,” Biniek said.

But Biniek also describes his crafting as nothing short of “therapy.”

Here in Fleetwood, the craft show is not wholly about crafts. Instead, it’s an outlet to display the ways residents have overcome challenges. Everyone is capable of turning chaos into something remarkable. Whether a new or an old interest, finding hobbies and interests that someone is passionate about gives a person purpose. And Fleetwood has it. 

Behind every craft is a story, a fire put to water, a heart and meaning. 

“When I put the wood on the lathe,” Thomas Lance said, “and it starts to turn, and I… put the tool against it, all the stress just melts away.”