What started out nearly 40 years ago as a small venture at a church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has grown into a major Southeast arts and crafts show geared toward festive holiday shopping, is about to roll into Macon this weekend.
Christmas Made in the South, which is bringing more than 200 arts and crafts vendors to downtown, will take place Friday through Sunday at the Macon Coliseum, 200 Coliseum Drive. This is the 26th year for the event locally.
“Our real niche is that it’s all handmade arts and crafts people who are here with items made in America. There’s no big-box stores. There’s nothing from China. There has to be creativity. You’re not going to see somebody selling helicopters or drones at this show,” said Russ Hunt, executive director of Carolina Shows Inc., which was founded by his parents, Janice and Bob Hunt.
“It was really her brainchild 40 years ago,” Hunt said of his mother. “It started out at a church with maybe 40 or 50 crafters. My dad didn’t think it was going to work, but they gave it a whirl. It was a Saturday in a church and about 1,000 people came and they charged a dollar or something like that. They did it there a couple of years and then went to a smaller building. When they went to the big convention center in Charlotte, that’s when my dad started looking at retiring from his Avis marketing job.”
Christmas Made in the South launched its 2018 holiday road show in Charlotte two weeks ago and has already stopped over in Columbus. It’ll head to Macon this week followed by stops in Savannah; Jacksonville, Florida; and Charleston, South Carolina.
“It’s a juried arts and crafts festival, so not just anybody can get into it. You have to send in an exhibit of your work, and some artists and craftsmen here look at it and if it meets their criteria, then they get in,” said Hunt, estimating about 40 percent of the vendors follow Christmas Made in the South to each city on its circuit.
Hunt said the event can be lucrative for the vendors due to their expertise, with some grossing $3,000 in sales over three days. He pointed out that plenty of the artists and crafts people will be doing demonstrations as shoppers browse the aisles and stop to chat with them about their work.
“We have a wood carver there who makes Santas out of wood,” Hunt said. “It’s a wooden log that he’ll put between his shoes and he’ll start whacking on that with a mallet, and the next thing you know you see a face, and then you see a Santa. I’ve seen people stand around for hours watching him … You can’t see that in the mall. You can’t find that online. You can only see that if you’re at this show talking to the artists and craftsmen.”
Naturally, Santa Claus also will make appearances at Christmas Made in the South, with children able to take a picture with the jolly old elf. There is a fee for the photo, Hunt said.
Admission to Christmas Made in the South is $7, which is good for all three days with a hand stamp, while children age 12 and under are free. There also are coupons available online for a dollar discount on admission. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Parking is free.