Amy Batista, Special Writer
CRANBURY — The 15th annual Cranbury Craft Show was held at the Cranbury School on Main Street in Cranbury this past weekend.
The craft show is the only fundraiser for the nonprofit Cranbury Education Foundation.
”It was a great success, raising approximately $20,000,” said Jill Frost, of Cranbury, treasurer of the Cranbury Education Foundation.
”The Cranbury Education Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that works to support the school and community by funding school-based capital projects that impact the community at large, along with school only related items such as teacher mini-grants,” said Lynne Fox, Cranbury Education Foundation board member. “An example of a capital project is the recent purchase of new lighting in our school auditorium.”
She added, “The crafts fair, the Cranbury Education Foundation’s annual fundraiser, is successful due to a true community effort between the school administration and custodial staff and more than 130 volunteers,” Ms. Fox said. “We are fortunate enough to have the event led by two outstanding organizers, Kelly Devine and Theresa Vaccaro.
”Both Kelly and Theresa gave countless hours to the event over the last six months and were supported by very dedicated community members to make the weekend a success. The Cranbury Education Foundation is very grateful to have Kelly and Theresa as leaders and for the support of so many dedicated community members.
”The volunteers participated in numerous aspects of the craft show to make it a successful event and came from different backgrounds for one common purpose.”
”Volunteers, bakers, decorators, organizers, sellers — this is an all-hands-on-deck event, and we love how many parents, teachers and community members rise to the occasion,” said Kelly Devine, of Cranbury, co-chairwoman of the show.
Around 1,700 people attended the craft show to browse and purchase the array of handmade crafts.
The show featured more than 112 artisans with crafts that included furniture, floral designs, adult and children’s clothing, pottery, jewelry, wood crafts, glass and more. Not all vendors that applied were featured in the crafts show. Around 45 vendors were put on the waiting list. The spots quickly fill up, and some applicants already have started applying for next year’s show.
One of the vendors, Tasselled Totes, began as a school project for Cindy Parzych’s daughter, Christen, who needed a product for her marketing class during her sophomore year of college.
”She (Christen) needed a product for the presentation so we made purses up for the pretend store, and the teachers asked to buy them at the end,” said Ms. Parzych, who is from Richboro, Pennsylvania. “That’s how we got started.”
She added,, “This was all to help with college expenses.”
The hot seller item for Ms. Parzych is her New City Bag. She has been attending the crafts show for the past six years and found out about it by word of mouth. The unique thing about the fair for her is the crafts show falls on her birthday.
”There is this lady who makes this unbelievable carrot cake. I don’t like cake, but I like carrot cake so the ladies that run the store save me a piece to make sure I have carrot cake for my birthday,” Ms. Parzych said.
Zoe Castro, of Hightstown, owner of The Artisan Tree soap business, also was at the show.
”It’s all vegetable-based, handmade soap,” Ms. Castro said. “When my son was a baby, I became an avid label reader. In the process of educating myself about the good and not so good choices for him, I found out the soaps from the leading brands were actually detergents even though they were marketed as soaps.”
It was this discovery that led her to creating her own business of natural handmade soap. Ms. Castro has been making soap for two years now. She makes the batches of soap about once a week in between taking care of her son.
”I go to the West Windsor farmers market in Princeton Junction and to the Hightstown farmers market on Fridays during the summertime,” Ms. Castro said.
Susy Kamber of Allentown, Pennsylvania, owner of Cutie Beauties, created unique shaped pocketbooks that looked like skirts.
”I know people like things personalized, including myself,” she said. “I got a hold of this material, and I just started working with it. I set up a table at the Meadowlands, totally oblivious to what I was doing. I was like, I can write a name on that, and people started buying them, and I was like ‘wow,’ and it just boomed.”
She added, “I love this show. The organization, the women that run this are outstanding because I do a lot of shows. I’m honored to be in (this show) because there are beautiful things here. The food is excellent here. The people that come through here (to help) are wonderful. Nice customers. It’s just a lovely show.”
During its 15-year history, the Cranbury Education Foundation has funded numerous projects, including the school’s large group room, which is used extensively by the school and community groups.
The foundation also helped fund upgrades to the sound system in the auditorium; purchased smart boards for the classroom and mobile computer labs, musical instruments for the bands and risers for the choir and made contributions toward the eighth-grade French and Spanish trips.
The foundation also has a teacher mini-grant program to approve and provide funds for programs or materials not included in the school budget. It supported the “Take a Seat” campaign for the Performing Arts Center and the Ideas Tutoring Center, both at Princeton High School.
In addition to the show vendors, Cranbury’s downtown merchants partnered again this year with the Cranbury Education Foundation in support of the show. With a paid admission to the show, Charmed by Claire and The Cranbury Bookworm offered customers $5 off a purchase of $25 or more March 10 and 11.
As part of the fundraiser, breakfast and lunch were available for purchase throughout the show at the Garden Café as well as home-baked goods at the “sweets and savories” table.
Chance drawings were held throughout the day to win baskets of crafts donated by the crafters. The tickets were available for purchase at the show entrances and at various spots throughout the show.
”I have been coming to the craft show since it started,” said Kaye Davison, of Cranbury. “I think it was better than it was last year, more variety. Last year, there was a lot of the same of everything. This year, so far, there are a lot of different things. I thought the booths with the dog collars were really different.”
”I come every year,” said Lisa Byer, of Cranbury, who has attended the past five years. “I come because it is a local event. It’s mostly people here I know from town, and they are here doing their thing. It’s a very cute, little home show.”
”The food court here is amazing,” Ms. Byer said as she pulled out of her bag the homemade fudge she bought at the show. “Jam lady, homemade jams, to die for. The chocolate tower will make you happy for the rest of the day. It’s just fun. Very unique things here.”
Anyone interested in sending contributions to the foundation should send them to the group at P.O. Box 332, Cranbury, 08512.

