Candy Cane Lane Features Local Crafters

The Candy Cane Lane craft show in Berkley was a hit Saturday and helped raise funds for community services.

Just before Christmas for the past 18 years, the Berkley Junior Women's Club has been organizing the event, during which local crafters sell their products and shoppers find last-minute presents. The club raises money by selling tables to vendors, putting on a bake sale and selling raffle tickets. Profits are put back into community services.

"I think people are going back to homemade stuff that is made in Michigan. And they are helping the economy by supporting the crafters," said longtime Berkley resident Debie Meske, who is the club's treasurer and co-chair of this year's Candy Cane Lane raffle.

The funds are used for events put at risk due the city's budget constraints. The Berkley Junior Women's Club will co-organize the Daddy Daughter dance with the Berkley Parks & Recreation department. Other events the club contributes toward include Breakfast with the Bunny during Easter and the Halloween Spooktacular. The funds also are used for planting flowers around and other city buildings. Through the Goodfellow Fund of Detroit, the club donates money to adopt needy families that are unable to afford Christmas-related items.

Meske said she saw a good response from vendors this year – there were 34 – and she even had to turn down six to eight applicants. The reason, she said: "I think it's the economy and this helps them to supplement their income."

Katherine Dattilo-Russell worked as a legal secretary for 20 years and, last year, her daughter inspired her to restart her crochet hobby. Dattilo-Russell was a first-year vendor at Candy Cane Lane. But, she said, she has done rounds at four craft shows in nearby suburbs.

Her stall had baby beanie caps, toddler hats and children's caps for newborns and sizes that fit kids up to 3 years old. Her hot pink cap for baby girls was a popular item. The caps range from $6 to $12.

"I think a lot of people have come out of corporate world and taken up a hobby instead of waiting around for an employer to call you," she said.

Exerine Lonski, who retired as a teacher last June, said making gifts for her students helped prepare her for bulk production. She has been selling handcrafted purses, recipe calendars and snowman ornaments, cards, necklaces and other items for the past year at craft shows.

"I started by making cards and gradually went into making items. My quilted purses are from a dye that cuts paper. Then I saw the calendars and I thought I'll make recipe calendars out of them because I am also in a recipe club," Lonski said. 

Nicholas Vroegindewey, a retired machinist, has been participating in the Candy Cane Lane for the past four years. Vroegindewey, with help from his wife Janice, has been making wooden toys, games, doll cradles and puzzles. The couple does an average of six craft shows a year and the Vroegindewey said he feels he gets a better response every year.

"Wood toys last for a long time and you can hand them down," he said. "I also make them cheap enough so they can buy it."

For past 12 years, Margaret Schandevel has been hand-painting wine glasses, metal, wood, gourds and other items. She also has been making oil paintings for special orders at reasonable prices.  

Schandevel said she has done several craft fairs over the years, but this was her first time at Candy Cane Lane.

Schandevel, 65, retired three years ago as a quality engineer from General Motors and has continued to pursue her hobby of painting and hopes to sell her items to boutique stores.

What keeps her going? "A lot of caffeine," she joked.