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| The War Eagle Craft Fair |
Award-winning
author Radine Trees Nehring has been writing fiction and non-fiction about the
Ozarks since 1985, and her work in English and other languages has been sold
around the world. In 2002 her first Ozarks mystery novel appeared. The eighth
novel in the series, A Portrait to Die For, is coming
soon. Learn more about Radine and her books at her website.
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| The author at a book signing at the craft fair |
"Heigh-ho, come to the (craft)
fair." Come, one and all. Fun, and happy purchasing are guaranteed.
October and May are big-time craft fair
months in Arkansas. I have often wondered if the Ozarks area of the state
(generally--the northern third and north-western sections) doesn't sink a few
inches under the weight of all the visitors who come here during fair times. We
area in-dwellers know to avoid restaurants and some high-traffic places during
fair season, and, if we attend a fair, we go on a weekday before high traffic
hits. Even then, there will be large enough crowds to make the experience full
of fair-time excitement and color, and tent and wagon food sellers will be
open.
The War Eagle Craft Fair, real setting for my
mystery novel, A Fair to Die For, is
(so far as I know) the longest continually running craft fair in the United
States. First held in 1954 in a field next to the War Eagle River near Rogers,
Arkansas, it now draws up to 200,000 visitors each year. They come to view and
buy handmade items created and displayed by several hundred artisans from all
over the United States, though the largest number of them live and work in the
Ozarks. Other states represented include New York, Minnesota, Iowa, Virginia,
Texas, California, New Mexico, Alaska, Montana--well, you get the idea.
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| One of the many craft exhibits |
This is a juried fair. In addition to showing
quality work, anyone applying for a booth must prove he or she has actually
made the items to be displayed and sold, and include photos showing the seller
making--whatever--anything from furniture to jewelry. No "Made in
China" stickers here. www.wareaglefair.com for more information.
(Many of the other area fairs have looser regulations governing what is sold.)
My husband and I have been to many War Eagle
fairs, and our home displays items that prove the quality of work done by fair
exhibitors. This fair is just one of dozens in the area during October, but its
outstanding history of success and the known quality of the work sold there
made it an easy choice as a site for much of the action in my novel. Just think
of the possibilities for crime! Everything from slick-fingered pickpockets to
drug sellers could, hypothetically, stalk the fair.
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| Carrie's favorite quilt, the cow munching grass |
A Fair to
Die For
was a fairly easy novel to write. Of course, for research, I had to
visit the fair one more time. I already had a focus character, Shirley Booth,
an Ozarks native who is a quilter and a secondary character in my series, invites
my protagonists, Carrie McCrite and Henry King to assist her in her booth at
the fair. Add other series characters and a few mysterious and, perhaps, evil
people, and you have it--mystery, suspense, horror, and the entertainment of
attendance at a real craft fair and several other high-quality entertainment
sites in Northwest Arkansas without having to endure any crowds!
See you at the fair?
A Fair to Die For
It’s October, craft fair season in the Ozarks, and Carrie and
Henry are helping their friend Shirley sell her quilts and Baby Cuddlys at the
War Eagle Craft Fair. After a mysterious cousin with ties to drug dealers
appears, danger stalks the fair. When Carrie is abducted by killers following a
breakfast at War Eagle Mill, she’s afraid she won’t escape, because—though her
aim in life has always been to help others out of problems—no one who can help
her knows where she is. “There is no me out there to help me.”
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12 comments:
Good for you, Nadine! Looks like you have a good time at those craft fairs. The danger is finding other interesting items to buy while you're there. Your book covers and titles are cute.
I can't wait to read it. I love your characters and your mysteries. And now I'm dying to get to the fair! Lol.
I can't wait to read it. I love your characters and your mysteries. And now I'm dying to get to the fair! Lol.
You said it---well-run craft fairs are wonderful. Temptation to buy is behind me (mostly) because we recently moved from a very large country home to a city condo and had to downsize painfully. Fortunately we were able to fit the things we really love in our new home, including all our craft fair lamp purchases!
Radine
I love the cow quilt!
Radine, it would be a great treat to spend time with you and John at the Fair. Maybe someday we can make it happen. Till then, be well and write well, my friend.
The cow quilt was actually made for me years ago by a very good friend, Chris Conant. As you can probably tell, it's been washed many times and has also appeared "in public" at some of my book events. (See "DEAR EARTH: A Love Letter from Spring Hollow.") But, for the purposes of this novel, Shirley Booth got to be the quilter. Chris also made a quilt for my husband, John--a Mac Truck called "Big John." :-)
Radine and I are friends--unfortunately we don't see each other as often as we used to when I went to more mystery cons. I love, love her books.
And I love Marilyn Meredith and F. M. Meredith books too--evidently as much as she loves mine. But is that why we're friends? NO, we were friends from the moment we first met at Mayhem in the Midlands in Omaha!
And I love Marilyn Meredith and F. M. Meredith books too--evidently as much as she loves mine. But is that why we're friends? NO, we were friends from the moment we first met at Mayhem in the Midlands in Omaha!
Radine, what a great post! Love your pictures, especially the one with you in it! Having read and loved the book it's fun to get a reprise. Thank you for hosting this, Lois.
Thanks, Donna. Great to see you here! And, what's your next book to be?
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