Henderson history: Audubon State Park first hosted craft festival in 1973
The Henderson Lions Club Arts & Crafts festival has been around since 1973 under various names, but the director of its initial sponsor expected it to flop. Over the years it’s sometimes been a victim of its own success.
For most of its life the event at Audubon State Park was sponsored by the Green River Area Development District (or the tourism committee that was part of GRADD until 1995) in conjunction with the state park. Local artist Thelma Grossman co-chaired the first event, according to The Gleaner of Oct. 7, 1979.
“We envisioned it to be a success, but we didn’t foresee it being this much of an event this early,” Grossman said. “As a matter of fact, George Russell (executive director of GRADD in 1973) said it would never go.”
The festival has always been held the first week of October at the park, but it was cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, although the festival is entering its sixth decade Oct. 6-7 this year, the 2023 festival will be the 50th.
The Gleaner’s first mention of the festival appeared Sept. 19, 1973. More than 50 booths were expected, according to project coordinator Shirley Dexter, who was associated with the festival for more than two decades. Only artisans from the seven counties of GRADD were eligible for booths; their only cost was 5 percent of gross proceeds.
A follow-up story appeared Oct. 9, which said 91 booths were open on Saturday but only 50 returned on Sunday because it rained. Nevertheless, mechanical counters estimated attendance at 16,900 that weekend.
“All of the exhibitors I talked to were real happy with the show and they hope to make it an annual thing,” said Charlie Crowley, park superintendent.
The 1974 show was co-sponsored by the Green River Homemakers and the Green River Tourism Committee.
A Gleaner article Oct. 8 quoted Polly Buckles, park superintendent, estimating attendance at 21,000 patronizing 110 booths. She said officials had to block off traffic at the park entrance for about 45 minutes several times Sunday to make room for vehicles wanting to enter. Also, a shuttle bus was added that year and has continued through the years.
The 1975 and 1976 festivals drew more than 25,000. Extra parking was provided at the old harness racing track.
More than 160 exhibitors got a little damp the first day of the 1977 festival, but to compensate for the rain the festival opened three hours early the second day.
More than 150 booths from six states were at the 1978 festival, which attracted between 35,000 and 50,000 people.
The Gleaner of Oct. 7, 1979, said there were about 250 exhibitors; up to 30,000 attended the first day and about 70,000 were expected the second. Items ranged from 10-cent ornamental feathers to $400 “elaborately hand-crafted oak and walnut chests.”
Marshall Green noted in the Oct. 5, 1980, Gleaner that customer tastes had changed. Formerly, he said, buyers wanted plaques and chests painted with mice and owls. “Now everyone wants pigs.”
Parking became a problem as the festival grew. An estimated 65,000 attended, according to The Gleaner of Oct. 6, 1980, which jammed the grand opening of the manufactured home dealership adjacent to the park. Jim Walter Homes had some of the cars towed.
John Pippin, assistant manager at the nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken, said festival patrons also filled up the restaurant’s lot. “Some of them got real hateful with me when I told them they couldn’t park in the lot.”
An estimated 80,000 patronized 240 booths from seven states, according to the Oct. 29, 1981, Gleaner. Temporary closures were again used to control parking. There was talk of moving the festival to Ellis Park, but organizers preferred the state park’s beauty.
“Lovely” weather accompanied the following year’s festival and 100 extra parking spaces were provided on the Heck’s Department Store lawn across U.S. 41-North, according to the Oct. 3, 1982, Gleaner. Turnout was about 80,000 in both 1982 and 1983, which backed up traffic to Old Orchard Shopping Center.
The Gleaner of April 10, 1983, noted booth applicants would be limited to the 28 western-most counties of Kentucky.
Big changes came in 1984. A name change to the Green River Arts & Crafts Festival was relatively short-lived however; by 1985 it was back to the Big River Arts & Crafts Festival. (From the beginning the name in The Gleaner’s coverage frequently alternated between Big River and Big Rivers.)
Also, demand was so heavy for booths that three Newburgh women organized the Golden Harvest Arts & Crafts Festival at Ellis Park the same weekend.
And then the festival made history: “It was the first time in 12 years that it rained both days,” said coordinator Shirley Dexter. The first day wasn’t so bad, she said, but the second was a “washout,” that earned exhibitors a 50-percent refund on space rental fees.
By 1986 the festival had returned to allowing out-of-state exhibitors; they came from seven states.
In 1987, for the first time, a fee for parking was instituted. It was $1 inside the park. Thousands parked for free in the parking lot of the former Heck’s store.
Horse-drawn carriage rides were offered in 1988. Big crowds continued through 1990. “One lady from New York took her vacation to come here,” Shirley Dexter said in the Oct. 7 Gleaner. “The show is becoming quite well-known throughout the country.”
By 1994 the parking fee was up to $2 and Dexter was noting the event was the second-oldest crafts festival in Kentucky after the St. James Court festival in Louisville, which dates to 1957.
A record of more than 350 booths came a few years later, according to The Gleaner of Oct. 1, 1997.
By 2004 the name was changed to the GRADD Arts & Crafts Festival and parking was $3 inside the park. Henderson Police Department Lt. Frank Cates had worked the front gate for 10 years, according to the Oct. 3 Gleaner, but he’d never been inside the festival. “I’ve never gotten past this spot,” he said.
The Gleaner of Oct. 5, 2006, reported the number of booths at the GRADD festival had been whittled down to about 150. By 2012 there were about 100 booths, and the parking fee was $4.
The Lions Club took over sponsorship in 2015 and had 122 booths that year.
“The Lions Club wanted to see the Henderson community get more involved in this,” Bill Dibert, Lions Club member and festival committee chairman, told The Gleaner. “Our focus has been to keep the arts and crafts festival going for the vendors and for the public but also to give the opportunity for other groups in Henderson County to get involved.”
This year there will be 125 booths allowed “to keep flow and parking at an optimum,” according to the Lions website.
100 YEARS AGO
Mayor Clay F. Hall turned on a new set of downtown streetlights, according to The Gleaner of Oct. 6, 1923. Most of you would recognize them; they’re the template for the current antique-style lights that were installed beginning in the spring of 2001.
Henderson’s first streetlights were gas, installed about 1860, but didn’t work very well. They were replaced by a better system of gaslights in the fall of 1884. Electric arc lights were installed in 1896, when the city’s first power plant was built, and were replaced by the 1923 lights. They, in turn, were replaced by cobra-head, mercury vapor lights in the fall of 1954.
75 YEARS AGO
All three members of the Henderson City Commission had signed a petition asking that a new power plant be built but rejected the petition so they could put the matter on the ballot to ensure its legality, according to The Gleaner of Oct. 5, 1948.
The previous year The Gleaner of Nov. 5 had reported the public voted against authorizing a bond sale of $2.1 million to improve the deficient city power plant. It went down 2,226 to 1,529 in 1947.
The 1948 election saw a reversal on the bond issue 1,874 to 1,424, according to the Nov. 3 Gleaner. That led to construction of the Station One power plant on Water Street, which began operation in 1951 at a cost of about $3 million.
25 YEARS AGO
An idea that once had a lot of traction locally – merger of city and county governments – stirred the main disagreement at a Henderson City Commission candidate forum, according to The Gleaner of Oct. 8, 1998.
The strongest statements came from Sonny Ward and Steve Bean, who strongly opposed, while Leo Peckenpaugh called it an “intriguing” proposal that should be studied again.
Russell Sights said he couldn’t decide without seeing the proposed merged government’s charter. Al Baity said the same benefits could be achieved through greater city-county cooperation.
Mike Farmer said he didn’t think a merger proposal stood a chance at the polls. Robby Mills said the same, noting he had earlier backed the idea of changing Henderson Fiscal Court to a commission that would replace the magistrates with three commissioners elected at large.
Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at YesNews42@yahoo.com, on the social media platform X, previously called Twitter, at @BoyettFrank, and on Threads at @frankalanks.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Henderson history: Audubon State Park first hosted craft festival in 1973
