Christmas Craft Show under sunny new leadership

The organizers of the Mountain City Sunflower Festival are taking charge of another local festival.The Johnson County Arts Council Christmas Craft Show has been around since 1994. In response to the Arts Council going defunct, the Craft Show is changing hands and becoming "the Johnson County Christmas Market." This year's Christmas Market will be held across two days: Friday, Nov. 28, from 4 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 29, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Johnson County High School will be the venue.As part of adopting the festival, the Mountain City Sunflower Festival Board is rebranding into "The Johnson County Community Events Council." It is also becoming a 501©(3) non-profit, according to a board representative.The organizers are allowing vendors of all types, instead of just craft-makers, so "locals can shop for Christmas decor, Christmas Presents, as well as treats for them and their loved ones," according to the representative.Live music, food trucks, activities for children and a "visit from Santa" are also planned, according to the representative. Andy Wright, a Johnson County local, ran the first Christmas Craft Show out of her residence. "I did it with two other stay-at-home moms that were trying to make some money, you know, for Christmas," Wright said. "We did it for three years, and it was getting so big that we had to move out of my living room."In 2000, the Johnson County Chamber of Commerce took over the event but quickly handed it back to Wright. She then asked the Johnson County Arts Council board, of which she was a member, if they wanted to pick it up. They agreed.From 2002 to 2022, the event was hosted at the former Mountain City National Guard armory. In 2023 and 2024, after the armory was sold, it was hosted at Johnson County High School.Wright said the Arts Council dwindled in membership across the years, until earlier this year when it was left with five members. The council went defunct in August, she said.Renee Proffit, as a member of both the Arts Council and Sunflower Festival board, offered to keep the Crafts Show going under new leadership."It's something very dear to my heart because I've always been a crafter and my mother was a crafter," Wright said. "I just didn't want to see it die, and it would've died if me and Renee hadn't [worked] together."Wright said the Johnson County Community Events Council will continue the Arts Council's tradition of giving scholarships to high school seniors going into the art field.The Mountain City Sunflower Festival Board is rebranding and taking control of a long-standing Christmas craft show.The Mountain City Sunflower Festival Board is rebranding and taking control of a long-standing Christmas craft show.