Star-Journbal Editor
Hot, gale-force, southerly winds gusting up to 46 miles per hour bullied down Main Street Saturday, tipping tents, breaking artwork, and kicking sand in the eyes of an estimated 45,000 to 50,000 patrons at the Hillsboro Arts & Crafts Fair.
Artists who've been coming to the fair for decades called it the meanest wind they'd ever seen in Hillsboro on the third Saturday in September.
Furnace-like wind and 95-degree temperatures made conditions so miserable that by 3 p.m. many of the show's 350 vendors were packing up their wares. That's because, even with two hours left in the show, most of the buying public was back home, shopping, perhaps, on eBay.
National Weather Service in Newton reported steady winds from 23 up to 31 miles per hour from mid-morning through the afternoon. The strongest gust, 46 miles per hour, was recorded at 2:15 p.m., with a temperature of 93 degrees.
The windstorm forced merchants into a multitasking, tent-saving mode. Some held onto their metal tent frames with one hand and ran credit card purchases with the other, while keeping a wary eye on teetering display shelves, and squinting to keep the sand and grit from blowing into the other eye.
"It's been so windy, and we've had so many crafters lose product," said Hillsboro Arts & Crafts director Christy Wulf. "I hope that it doesn't hurt them and I hope that it doesn't hurt sales."
Although it was the most blistering, blustery day in the fair's 37-year history, Wulf said unofficial figures showed this year's attendance was higher than last year's.
On the Main Street midway, many of the same vendors who'd spent the afternoon trying to keep their tents and products from blowing away were using words such as "super!" and "great!" to describe their day's sales.
On Monday, Wulf said it would be at least several days and perhaps weeks before the final sales figures are known.
"I don't have numbers yet but I've heard most vendors say they think the numbers were up from last year," Wulf said. "Even people I know who didn't sell much of anything want to come back."
Hillsboro Police Chief Dan Kinning is the official tabulator of the unofficial attendance figures. He has a time-tested way to reach a self-described guesstimation, which fair officials have sworn by for years.
According to Kinning, this year's fair attracted "probably between 45,000 and 50,000 people."
"We had more than last year's," Kinning said. "Because we had a lot of people in town at 7 a.m. already. By 9:30 a.m., we had traffic backed up from Grand Avenue and Ash clear back up to U.S.-56. But by three o'clock it had slowed way down."
At the same time, winds were gusting at gale force down Main Street, and the glaring temperature had reached 95 degrees.
"It has been this windy before, but it's the gusts we've had today that have been a real problem," Wulf said. "If it was a continuous wind of 20 or 30 miles per hour, that wouldn't be a problem. But these surges of wind coming in at 30, 35, and 40 miles an hour, they're catching under the tents and sending them."
Four women, mostly elderly, were treated for heat-related symptoms in the afternoon, according to Marion County EMT officials. Two of them received medical attention in the air-conditioned emergency trailer. The others were transported in stable condition to Hillsboro Community Medical Center for observation.
Despite the traffic jams coming in and out of town, no accidents were reported, according to Kinning.
Carolyn Green never thought gale- force winds would spoil the biggest day of her fair-showing career,
For Green, of Austin, Texas, it was a "very exciting" day when she opened the letter telling her she'd been selected to participate in her first major arts and crafts fair.
"I was thrilled," Green said on Friday evening, as she sat in her tent putting together the display booth for her first top 100-show.
Green, who calls her business Eclectic Imaginings and Jewelry, sells earrings, bracelets, and jewelry, made with expensive vintage glass and Turkish silver.
But by mid-afternoon on Saturday, Green was hurriedly putting her jewelry away, packing up to go home.
"The wind has been frightening," Green said, as wind snapped loudly at her nylon tent walls and ceiling.
"The people next door, their tent just started walking. It's been just scary. I mean it's gusting who knows how fast."
As the afternoon wore on and conditions continued to deteriorate, each vendor was trying to decide whether to continue to sell, or protect their valuable inventories.
For Barbara Vega, of Vega Pottery, staying open was a risk she was unwilling to take.
"I've been coming to this show for 16 years, and this has been the worst wind I've had to deal with in those 16 years," she said, as she wrapped another glazed pitcher in newspaper and laid it in a heavy cardboard box.
"I've worked too hard and I really don't want this to get destroyed. You have to take care of the pottery.
"I'll be back," Vega added. "We've had too many good years to give up; so we'll be back."
It might have been a terrible day weather-wise, but sales were "great!" at Memories of Home, according to owner, Debbie Futhey, of Rose Hill.
"This is a hurricane!" Futhey said, as she struggled mightily help to take a neighboring tent down without letting it blow away.
"It's horrible!" she added. "But we've had wonderful sales; lots of floral and textile pieces. We've had a wonderful day!"
Many vendors who decided to stay open during the windstorm were seen dashing in their tents, trying to keep their breakables from falling on the street-pavement floor.
But Margaret Gunnells and her husband, from Carbondale, seemed amazingly calm, considering their tent was filled with ceramic pottery.
The Gunnels say they know a lot about selling in the wind, because they learned it the hard way. A windstorm at a crafts fair in Olathe a few years ago knocked their shelves down, causing $800 in damage and ruining their show.
But Saturday's windstorm caused no damage, she said.
"We moved our [display] set six to eight inches away from the edge, all around the tent," she said. "So when the wind whips and pushes in the side, it doesn't hit our shelves."
Ingenuity and teamwork helped keep the tents along Grand Avenue, south of Main Street, from blowing away. Someone bolstered everyone's chances by tying all the tent posts together with zip-ties.
Rona and Jeff Slaton, of Sapulpa, Okla., needed that extra support. The owners of Gone Country had arrived without enough weights to keep their tent from hopping up and down.
But the zip-ties did the trick, Rona said, allowing them to enjoy a day of extraordinary sales.
Every year Rona paints pictures on vintage suitcases, trunks, hatboxes, freezers, and funnels. This year, she painted snowmen on everything.
She kept their money in an old cash register she'd painted, which read, "Snowmen love cold cash!"
"People still came out!" Rona said, as they took their undamaged tent down. "I'm amazed at how many people come out, I'm just amazed.
Perhaps it was the tropical weather that attracted so many people to Wendell Turner's sales display. The owner of Designer Palms, Inc., of Andover, Turner had planted an oasis of his rust-resistant metal palm trees on Main Street.
Business associate, Jake Wiebe of Hillsboro, invited Turner to the fair for the first time this year. They posed under the tall palms, which, bolted to heavy footings, swayed not an inch. Still, Turner said that hundreds of customers had been drawn to their beach, and that it had been a very successful day.
A high-strung row of furry puppets danced on their strings at Kahrs Toy Time booth. The wind had banged them together, mosh pit-like, all day long.
After 24 shows a year in 20 states for the past 15 years, Neil Kahrs, of Dexter, was grateful for a little help at the end of a long day. The marionette maker spends every fair pulling strings and showing people how easy they are to play with.
Jenna Allen of Hillsboro ran to Kahrs' booth ahead of her mom, Terri. She pulled down a fuzzy yellow puppet, with hair that flopped down over its eyes. With a twist of her wrist, she made the creature dance on the street; an amazing feat for a seven-year-old.
Not only is Jenna a good puppeteer, she may be the savviest shopper in the entire second grade at Hillsboro Elementary School.
"We come once, scope everything out, then go back, empty the piggy bank and see how much she has," Terri said. "We do this every year."
Of all the things she loves at the arts and crafts fair, she loves the marionettes the most. That's what she decided to spend her money on, just like last year, and the year before.
After hearing the grown-ups talk about the windy weather, Jenna looked up from her new favorite toy and said, "We should have saved the crafts fair for tomorrow, because tomorrow isn't going to be as windy as today."
And, of course, she was right.
