Sugarloaf Craft Festivals

The Sugarloaf festival comes around to Washington DC metropolitan area several times in a year. Of course right around the holidays is when they do the most business, with people lining up to purchase handmade or handcrafted gifts.
There is an interesting mix of truly artisan items (for example, a vendor making brooms, a vendor making woodwork, pottery etc.) to the more modern items such as framed photography.
My favorite stands are the one where there is handmade embroidery, wooden fountain pens, wooden carved bowls.
There’s also food, at various vendors. However most of this is very sugary and fattening, with a few options for the health minded.

This is not your typical craft show. The artists that come here travel from all over the US to sell various types of handmade goods. The prices are higher than your typical craft show but so is the quality.
The fairgrounds has been hosting this show for several years now. It costs about $ 8 to get in. Discounts can be found on living social, through the Sugarloaf email, and you can sometimes buy discounted tickets for the next show at the current one.
They carry paintings, jewelry (so much jewelery!), soaps, home décor, specialty food, and much more. The November show is the biggest because of the holidays but the other shows are fun too.
There are several food trucks that attend and plenty of seating if you decide to stay for lunch. They set up a puppet show for the kids and there are often artist demonstrations on site.
The only down side is that if you have been attending for years as I have, you notice that they don’t really have too many new artists. It’s very repetitive. Good thing I have a few people I love buying from over and over again!

its a nice gig, full of home-​grown stuff, but you kind of get a sense this stuff gets carted around each weekend. Paying 10 bucks to get in to something where every thing costs seems a bit strange, but this is normal. The parking is what u pay for I guess. Some of it is interesting but nothing really rocked my world. Its nice for getting gifts around the holidays, I suppose. All in all, I would have to say I don’t need to go here again, but I don’t discourage others from going.

Not really a «Craft Show», really more of an «Art Festival». $ 8 to get in, and nobody was walking out with any purchases. If you are looking for JEWELRY, ceramic pottery, clothing or woodcarved kitchen accessories, this is the place for you. Would probably never drive 1:15 minutes to go again. There were no holiday craft booths, and it was held on Nov. 20^th. Just know what you’re getting in to.

Sugarloaf Craft Festivals is run by a company named Sugarloaf Mountain Works. They organize a series of large craft festivals across a number of states, including Virginia, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
The festivals are large enough that they are held usually at fairgrounds or Expo Halls.
I went to my first one last weekend — held up in the Gaithersburg, MD area at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds.
It was $ 7.00 to get in — they have coupons on their web site to get a whole $ 1.00 off admission — but I forgot my coupon. I asked the lady at the ticket booth if I could show her a digital copy of the coupon from their own web site right on my iPhone — but she would not let me do that! Oh well.
When I walked in — I was a bit taken aback at how large the place is. I went for two reasons — to check it out and see what is being offered, and to visit a specific vendor to make a final payment on a custom piece of Celtic jewelry. When I saw how large the place was — I had a brief vision that all of you science fiction fans will appreciate — of the opening scene from the movie Star Trek: First Contact. Picard is having a nightmare about being assimilated by the Borg, he is on a Borg Cube, and the camera rapidly pans back to show just how vast the inside of a Borg Cube is… I laughed suddenly when I considered how long it might take me to navigate the place!
But I digress… :-)
When you enter — you have the option of picking up a shopping bag and a festival guide — which contains a list of vendors and a map.
There was tons of stuff to check out: furniture, jewelry, paintings, photographs, artwork, sculpture, clothing, leather goods, music, food, decorations, holiday ornaments, crafts, and tons more!
The next one in the Washington DC area will be at the Dulles Expo Center in early December…