LYNDONVILLE — One of the Northeast Kingdom’s most celebrated craft fairs will be returning this summer to Bandstand Park in Lyndonville.
The Burklyn Arts Council will be holding its annual fair on Saturday, July 3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine, right in the center of downtown Lyndonville.
The fair will feature juried crafts, children’s activities, music, food, and, of course, the organization’s famous strawberry shortcake.
State covid protocols will be in place at the time of the event.
The 51st Burklyn Arts Crafts Fair, always held the first Saturday of July, is unique in that all profits from the event go towards supporting grants and scholarships for the arts in the schools and communities within the Kingdom East Unified School District, allowing limited art education dollars to go that much further.
According to Burklyn Arts Co-Chair Susan Gallagher, all Burklyn exhibitors must pass a rigorous jury process to join the fair.
“Crafts are evaluated for originality, excellence of workmanship, mastery of their medium, technical proficiency, and aesthetics,” she said. “The process is difficult but necessary to maintain Burklyn’s high standards.”
Money raised by the organization’s two fairs, the second in December, offers assistance to 14 towns within the school district since the recent school district consolidation brought three new towns to form the Kingdom East District.
Awards typically cover ticket costs for professional performances, artists’ fees for residencies in the schools, the Jim Doyle Eighth Grade Scholarships, the Elizabeth Brouha Senior Scholarship, help with the purchase of special supplies/equipment, and more.
Eighth-grade scholarships go to students identified as possessing special interests or talent.
These grants pay for music lessons, art supplies, and the like and honor Jim Doyle, who served as Burklyn’s president and had a lasting influence on the group.
Doyle taught at Lyndon State College for many years and lived in Sutton.
The senior scholarship goes to graduating seniors who will study in the arts field in college.
This scholarship can be as large as $2,000 and is named for the founder of Burklyn, Elizabeth Brouha of Sutton.
Other recipients of Burklyn grants often include the Vermont Children’s Theater, Upward Bound at NVU-Lyndon, the Satellite Gallery, and the Kingdom East After-School Program.
Burklyn is an all-volunteer organization with no paid employees.
