{"id":304392,"date":"2026-10-11T11:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T11:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/304392\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T11:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T11:40:11","slug":"reading-berks-guild-craft-festival-moves-to-hamburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/304392\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading-Berks Guild craft festival moves to Hamburg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dozens of artisans transformed the Hamburg Field House into a marketplace of pottery, fiber arts, traditional folk crafts and other creations Saturday as the Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen brought its annual holiday festival to a new home.<\/p>\n

The guild\u2019s 76th Annual Juried Holiday Fine Art & Craft Festival drew about 50 exhibitors to the South Fourth Street building, where visitors browsed handmade merchandise, met the artists and shopped for one-of-a-kind holiday gifts.<\/p>\n

The one-day festival typically attracts between 1,500 and 2,000 visitors.<\/p>\n

The event previously was held at Kutztown University, but renovations there prompted organizers to find another location, guild President Barry L. Bennecoff said.<\/p>\n

Bennecoff, who participated in his first craft show at the Hamburg facility more than 40 years ago, approached its owner, Union Fire Company No. 1 of Hamburg, about hosting the festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy in, easy out, good for lots of parking, good for the customers and good for the vendors,\u201d he said, noting that the arrangement also benefits the volunteer fire company.<\/p>\n

\"BarryBarry L. Bennecoff, longtime president of the Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen chats with mother and daughter Dorie and Denise Drummer of Lower Macungie Township, Lehigh County, during the guild\u2019s annual holiday festival Saturday at the Hamburg Field House.
\n(Michelle Lynch-Reading Eagle)<\/p>\n

A fourth-generation woodworker who has served as guild president for 20 years, Bennecoff said the organization received relatively late notice that its former venue would be unavailable.<\/p>\n

Moving the festival from its traditional date in November to October created scheduling conflicts for some regular exhibitors.<\/p>\n

Bennecoff and longtime festival chairman Steven Hunter said the guild has reserved the Hamburg venue for 2027, giving exhibitors and organizers more time to plan.<\/p>\n

A master potter from Lansdale, Montgomery County, Hunter has chaired the festival for about a decade and praised the new location\u2019s accessibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parking is wonderful,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no steps or anything. There\u2019s garage doors we can drive right in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunter, who began making pottery in 1976, said attendance was encouraging despite uncertainty about how visitors would respond to the move.<\/p>\n

The juried festival requires participating artisans to create their own work and be present to meet customers, he said.<\/p>\n

The requirement distinguishes guild shows from general craft fairs that may include commercially manufactured merchandise, resale items or crafts assembled from kits, he noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody makes their own stuff,\u201d Hunter said of Saturday\u2019s event, \u201cand the artist has to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the shoppers were Denise Drummer and her mother, Dorie Drummer, of Lower Macungie Township, Lehigh County, who were searching for handcrafted Christmas ornaments and other distinctive, quality handmade pieces.<\/p>\n

The women said they attended previous guild festivals at Penn State Berks and Kutztown University but had not visited in several years. Both said the craftsmanship of the juried exhibitors is what brought them back.<\/p>\n

For participating artisans, the festival offered an opportunity to connect with others who appreciate traditional crafts.<\/p>\n

\"SarahSarah Gilligan of Glen Rock, York County, specializes in antique and vintage objects painted and aged in the Pennsylvania German tradition, shows some of items she exhibited Saturday at the Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen\u2019s 76th Annual Juried Holiday Fine Art & Craft Festival. The festival moved to the Hamburg Field House this year after more than 2 decades at the Kutztown University Field House.
\n(Michelle Lynch-Reading Eagle)<\/p>\n

Sarah Gilligan of Glen Rock, York County, specializes in antique and vintage objects painted and aged in the Pennsylvania German tradition.<\/p>\n

Participating for her fourth year, Gilligan said the unfamiliar field house quickly took on the festival\u2019s welcoming atmosphere as exhibitors arranged their displays.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love being here with the other artists,\u201d she said, \u201cand I especially love the festival\u2019s celebration of Pennsylvania German artistry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilligan said many of her customers are drawn to Pennsylvania German decorative arts, crafts and furniture.<\/p>\n

\"DanetteDanette Posey of Fleetwood, displayed her handcrafted colorful felted wool creations Saturday at the Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen\u2019s 76th Annual Juried Holiday Fine Art & Craft Festival at the Hamburg Field House. Posey holds a work she made in memory of her husband, who died in April. The piece is special and not for sale, she said.
\n(Michelle Lynch-Reading Eagle)<\/p>\n

Exhibitor Danette Posey of Fleetwood displayed her handcrafted colorful felted wool creations, including purses, pins, pillows and seasonal decorations.<\/p>\n

Posey, who has practiced fiber art for about 10 years, uses a labor-intensive wet-felting process, incorporating decorative fibers and embellishments before shaping the material into finished pieces.<\/p>\n

One particularly meaningful creation was made in memory of her husband, who died in April. Featuring roses incorporated into the felt, the work took about two months to complete, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat one is not for sale,\u201d she noted. \u201cI would reproduce it, but I would not sell that one because that has a lot of heart in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Posey, who was participating in her third festival, said business was improving as the day progressed.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1945, the Reading-Berks Guild is the oldest and largest chapter of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, with about 150 members from Pennsylvania and neighboring states, Bennecoff said.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that changing shopping habits and an aging membership have made it more difficult to attract exhibitors. The festival once featured as many as 120 artisans.<\/p>\n

But with a new home secured for 2027, Bennecoff hopes the longstanding holiday festival will grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dozens of artisans transformed the Hamburg Field House into a marketplace of pottery, fiber arts, traditional folk crafts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,12116,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-304392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-hamburg","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}