The 51st Annual Reelfoot Annual Arts & Crafts Festival will be held from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2, 2022. The festival is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, September 30th and Saturday, Oct. 1st, and Sunday, Oct. 2nd from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Exhibitor hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Sept. 29th, 30th, and Oct. 1st, and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 2nd. This year’s arts and crafts festival features over 300 vendors and exhibitors from surrounding states. The arts and crafts festival brings in over 45,000 visitors to Lake County each year and is known as one of the largest arts and crafts festivals in the Mid-South. Free parking is available on state park grounds or visitors may opt to park at nearby private parking locations for a nominal charge.
Visitors can expect to see miles and miles of yard sales stretching from Dyersburg to Union City. This year’s vendors will be located outside as well as inside Ellington Assembly Hall, the National Guard Armory, and American Legion Building. Various items are available for purchase including, pottery, metal work, floral arrangements, wooden furniture, jewerly, ceramics, leather work, and Native American crafts. Numerous food vendors will offer a variety of items including fried pies, corn dogs, funnel cakes, BBQ, hamburgers, hotdogs, and more. This year, several local businesses will also be offering breakfast, steaks, fish, and more.
The music line up for year’s festival is expected to be awesome.
It will be full of live music for everyone’s enjoyment.
Appearing on September 30th and October 1st at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. will be Wayne Jerrolds of Savannah, Tennessee.
Jerrolds is a widely known fiddle player, having played for the legendary Father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe.
Becky Roland and Double Stop from Memphis will play at 2:00 p.m. on October 1st will be. Coley & Marilyn Graves’ group will appear all three days. Bill Weir from Memphis will play and sing. Bill Weir is a former drummer for Conway Twitty.
Larry Morgan from Martin, TN, will rock the piano on Sunday, October 2nd at 1:00 p.m. followed by Jerry Carr of Adamsville who will be singing some good ole gospel tunes at 2:00 p.m.
Jason Neil, vice president of the Reelfoot Arts and Crafts Association said, “Fall weather, delicious food, awesome handmade items and over 200 vendors can only mean one thing. It’s Arts and Crafts weekend.”
“When folks think of Reelfoot Lake they think of the natural history, great bird watching, great hunting and fishing, and of course, the Reelfoot Arts and Crafts Festival.”
Neill said that they are looking forward to a great show this weekend. “If you can brave the traffic, there really is something for everyone at the festival.”
The festival brings visitors and vendors from all over the region to the annual event.
“We are so thankful to host this event right here in Lake County on our beautiful lake, and very thankful for all for the help in making this a successful event, Neil added.”
The festival began in 1971 a woman had a vision to promote the beauty and splendor of Reelfoot Lake by having an Arts & Crafts Festival organized. She felt that if she could help set up a board of directors to form a festival, it would bring people into the community and enable others to enjoy what the “locals” called paradise.
The board of directors consisted of nine men and women.
Every member had roots in the community and longed to see others come to know the area as they did.
The first year of the festival, though small in numbers, brought tourists into the community and helped stem interest throughout the state.
Jimmy Leake (above) setting up the stage for the live bands for this week’s festival.
The Reelfoot Lake State Park personnel (below)setting out hay bales throughout arts and crafts for seating.
