The entirely volunteer-based event offers various crafts, vintage clothes and jewelry to community members at Central Park
By RACHEL GAUER — features@theaggie.org
On two Sundays of every month, the fresh produce, bread and cheese booths that typically populate the Davis Farmers Market in Central Park are replaced by an array of handmade goods, vintage clothing and jewelry.
The Davis Craft and Vintage Fair has become Davis shopping staple, allowing local businesses and vendors to collectively sell their specialized goods in a prime location downtown. Items that are frequently on sale at the event range from handcrafted journals and notebooks to carefully curated vintage clothing pieces. Accompanied by alternating local bands and a food truck, the craft fair offers a unique market for any shopper looking for a Sunday stroll.
Debra Ariola is the director of the Davis Craft and Vintage Fair and the owner of Recollections Vintage & Pre-Loved Items, a business reselling vintage jewelry at the fair. Ariola, who has lived in town since the 1970s and is a UC Davis alumna, highlighted the appeal of Davis that draws vendors to participate in the fair.
“We have amazing volunteers that come from as far as Auburn and they are committed to our community,” Ariola said. “It’s amazing how charmed people are by Davis and how much we are a great community that people want to be a part of.”
The events originally began in 2012 as Square Tomatoes Craft Fair and offered exclusively crafted goods. Though the quirky name was certainly memorable, Ariola said it brought both some confusion and limited the offerings to only handmade goods.
“Many people came looking for tomatoes: We thought we either would have to start crafting tomatoes -– square ones — so we can say, ‘There they are,’ or we could change the name,” Ariola said. “We decided to change it to Davis Craft and Vintage Fair to be very clear about what we are and who we are.”
Ariola highlighted that the event is organized entirely by volunteers — vendors who choose to volunteer have greater priority in securing a competitive spot for a booth.
“As a director who is also a vendor it has been very important to me to have this group of volunteers,” Ariola said. “It has made the fair and grown the fair so much from what I can do just by myself — I have a great group of people who are totally committed to keeping this fair going.”
The fair’s team of about 30 volunteers do everything from local advertising to running their various social media pages. Emily Avalos and her husband are part of the team, installing lawn signs to advertise the event around town.
Avalos is the owner of Emily’s Crochet Corner and began selling her handmade crocheted plushies at the Craft and Vintage Fair in 2023. She said that the fair has offered her a sense of belonging and community unique to Davis.
“I knew that Davis was a community-based town, but once we started doing the craft fair, I found that not only are all of the people who are part of putting on the event are extremely kind and welcoming, but also the community has been really great, especially all of the college students,” Avalos said. “It’s always lots of fun to see people come in and get excited about the things in my booth and I start recognizing regular customers and build a rapport with them.”
The fair also partners with local non-profit Couleurs Vives Art Studio & Gallery, a Davis organization that offers art classes to neurodivergent adults at their downtown studio. In addition to being a key sponsor, Couleurs Vives also offers a booth at the fair to allow the artists to sell their work.
Kim Nguyen, the director of Couleurs Vives, explained the intention behind this unique experience for the artists.
“It’s an opportunity for them to be a part of their community and not feel a stigma,” Nguyen said. “My goal is for these artists to come and showcase their talent and learn to communicate with the people in the community.”
Nguyen, who began partnering with the fair in 2018, emphasized that the work sold at the booth and any donations made go directly to studio space.
“The proceeds go to the artists themselves, and the money we raise covers the expenses that go into the studio –– the supplies, the rent, everything,” Nguyen said. “The [artists] come to work at the studio and it is all free for them.”
Outside of the Sunday events, Nguyen explained that Couleurs Vives and the Craft and Vintage Fair work to mutually benefit each other: The organization assists financially to host the fairs and vendors volunteer to teach classes at the studio.
“The vendors teach at our studio and encourage the artists to be touched on their creative side,” Nguyen said. “It’s good for the vendors to have an understanding of these special artists and how they think and that they are capable of being creative and successful at doing what they do — they learn about people who are neurodivergent and the neurodivergent learn from them.”
The Davis Craft and Vintage Fair hosts the event twice a month on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Central Park in Downtown Davis. For more information on regular vendors and the fair’s history, visit the Craft and Vintage Fair’s website.
Written by: Rachel Gauer — features@theaggie.org
