The Roane State Community College Support Staff Council will not hold a craft fair in 2011.

2010 Craft Fair

The 2010 Craft Fair in Harriman at the main campus on Thursday, December 2 from 8:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Vendors

Our vendors offer a wide variety of craft items. In the past, we have seen everything from furniture to jewelry to clothing. Many of the vendors gear their crafts toward the Christmas theme (ornaments, wreaths, floral arrangements etc.) since we are nearing the holiday season at the time the fair is held every year, but we also have vendors that offer handmade candles, wood crafts for the home, all natural perfumes, aromatherapy items and a variety of other crafts.

We have a number of vendors that have been with us for many years, but we have also added new vendors at each annual fair. One vendor in particular, Dr. Janet Byrne, has been participating as an internal vendor since the inception of the craft fair fifteen years ago. Dr. Byrne is a retired Professor of Education at Roane State and finds the time to make some magnificent craft/gift items. Janet brings new and exciting items to her craft table every year and remains one of our most popular vendors to date. She supplies her craft table with beautiful handmade items like table runners with matching napkins & placemats, children's & adults' holiday vests & clothing, embroidered stockings, Christmas tree skirts and gorgeous bed quilts that come in a variety of sizes and styles.

Craft Fair Proceeds

Proceeds from the craft fair go to helping students pay for college textbooks. When the RSCC Support Staff Council started giving the book scholarship it was simply called the SSC Student Book Scholarship. In the year 2000, RSCC lost a friend and colleague who was also President of the Support Staff Council. In her memory, the book scholarship was renamed and is now given as the Gayle Mullins Memorial Student Book Scholarship. 

History of the Craft Fair

Seventeen years ago, members of the Roane State Community College Support Staff Council decided to do something to assist students in their pursuit of a College Education. We reviewed many suggestions and it was finally decided that we would offer a student book scholarship to help defray the cost of text books. The next step was to decide how we would fund the scholarship, and, after much contemplation, came across the idea of a Support Staff Craft Fair. In the first two years, the craft fair was limited to internal vendors consisting of the faculty and staff members at Roane State. In the third year, we decided to invite external vendors to join us and our in-house craft fair suddenly became a major production.

Over the years, we have increased the vendor participation, the public participation, as well as the number of student book scholarships that are awarded every semester. In the 2009 school year, funding from our fundraisers allowed us to award twenty book scholarships to students. Our vendor base has grown from a scant dozen vendors at the third annual craft fair to an average of 30 to 50 vendors per year for the last several years. Through the use of various media, newspaper, radio & local television, we have started to draw a larger public base also. We are hoping that advertising will continue to draw support from the public sector and increase the buyer base even further.