By Mike Finney

DOVER — It will be almost like starting all over again for the Dover Spouses’ Club’s 37th annual Craft and Holiday Show this Saturday.

That’s because the COVID-19 pandemic canceled last year’s show while this year’s event will take place at a new venue — Delaware Technical Community College-Terry Campus at 100 Campus Drive in Dover — leaving Harrington’s Delaware State Fairgrounds, where it had been held since 2001.

The craft show will run from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and tickets are $5 until Friday on Eventbrite (www.eventbrite.com) and $7 at the door.

Casey McDonald, president of the Dover Spouses’ Club at Dover Air Force Base, said the group is excited about the change of venue and added that it will have COVID-19 precautions in place at its show at Delaware Tech in north Dover this weekend.

“DelTech has worked so well with us. We love them,” Mrs. McDonald said. “It’s going to be a smaller craft show because of COVID, but they have been delightful to work with.

“They have given us everything we’ve needed, and the location is also better because we’re a lot closer to the base and it’s right off of a highway. We really think that this location will be beneficial to us, and we are very excited for the craft show.”

Prior to last year’s COVID cancellation the Dover Spouses’ Club’s Craft and Holiday Show drew more than 800 vendors from eight states, becoming the largest single-day craft show on the East Coast.

The craft show, which is held every year on the first Saturday in November, donates all of its proceeds to base, local and national charities.

Last year, the nonprofit organization awarded more than $25,000 in charitable donations and scholarships.

“The success of this event enables us to give back,” said Mrs. McDonald. “We do scholarships every year for our military spouses and dependents, we give back to other military organizations, so that’s why we put on the craft show. We don’t keep any of the proceeds for ourselves. It doesn’t fund the club or anything like that.

“Everything we make at our craft show we turn right back around and give it away, and that’s why we feel so proud about hosting our craft show because we know that we’re doing it to serve a greater purpose and helping out so many people and so many different organizations.”

Some of the crafty items that will be featured at this year’s show include Amish quilts, original artwork, baskets, candles, ceramics, clothing, holiday items, leather goods, jewelry, woodwork, pet items and food, to name a few.

Mrs. McDonald said Saturday’s event will have 55 vendors in order to maintain social distancing requirements.

COVID canceled the craft show last year, but this year it is returning with all vendors and shoppers required to wear face coverings, along with hand sanitizer stations located throughout the venue.

“We did cancel due to COVID last year because we didn’t want to spread anything and we wanted to make sure that we were being secure,” Mrs. McDonald said, “because a lot of the people who come to our craft show are of the elderly population, as are a lot of our vendors, so we wanted to make sure that we were being as safe as possible.”

She said one of the things that she thinks make their craft show so successful is because everything that is sold there has to be handmade.

“We don’t allow anyone that’s not a handmade organization or it’s not locally made, and I think that’s what drives people here,” said Mrs. McDonald. “At other craft shows they might not necessarily have things that were made by that person that’s sitting at that table in front of you, but here you get to meet the person that’s made the crafts and every one of our vendors is so proud of their stuff and just to see them excited about their stuff makes us excited.”

The annual Dover Spouses’ Craft and Holiday Show is put on by the organization’s board, which is about 10 to 12 individuals. They also recognize the many dedicated volunteers that ensure its success.

Planning for the event begins in January and after the craft show is finished, the group takes a month off before going right back to work on the next year’s craft show.

The Dover Spouses’ Craft Show was founded in 1984 by Kay Kross, wife of retired Air Mobility Command Commander Gen. Walter Kross.

During its first year the show was held in the Youth Center of Dover Air Force Base and included only 20 vendors.

It has grown immensely since then and is something the crafting community looks forward to every fall.

“I love meeting the people, I love everyone that comes through our craft show and I think that’s what attracts people to our craft show is because of not only where the money is going to, but we’re also very friendly and welcoming to people,” Mrs. McDonald said. “It is an amazing feeling and our vendors, we love seeing them come back.

“We love seeing them and we just hope to keep continuously growing and who knows what next year has in store for us? We might even be bigger than what we were in Harrington.”