Modern Gypsies: the War Eagle Craft Fair

Past I-540 and highway 412, there is a country highway that winds through the rolling hills and broad pastures of rural Rogers. Many miles north of Fayetteville, it is lined with signs: “The ORIGINAL War Eagle Fair”, “Yard Sale”, “Have More -->”. It leads to the War Eagle Woods, thick as butter churned on the porch during a balmy summer day.

Silhouettes on iron arches subtly signal veiled ranches and the final sign reads “Bean Palace Restaurant: Pancake Breakfast served at 6:30 a.m."

Hundreds of craft vendors flock to the War Eagle Mill in Rogers, Ark. to peddle handmade soaps, dog bandanas, stoneware hangings, Scrabble bracelets and Hawaiian sun chairs, to name a few of the crafts available. Here, many of the vendors were drawn into the craft business and trade for family reasons.

“I got into (the craft business) because I got married and my friends told me, ‘you have to have a hobby if you’re going to get married,’” said J. W. Rushing, a professional woodworker and potter. When Rushing began his work as a carpenter, he didn’t know anything about the business, but he said that you can learn to do anything if you’re determined enough.

Rushing’s booth was filled with wooden car models with working wheels, semi-truck shaped bookshelves and pottery bowls, saucers, and other kitchenware. Lately Rushing has turned the hobby into a full-time job, traveling the country nine months a year to various craft fairs and festivals. “We’re just a modern band of gypsies,” he said.

The owner of the Forrest Flower Jewelry business out of Columbus, Ohio, came to the craft fair because of family. “My family has been coating leaves and flowers in gold for 114 years,” he said. Three generations have kept the business running and brings in a substantial income by setting up booths at 20 other craft events through the year, as well as maintaining a commercial Web site.

Tara Murphy's children prompted her to go to War Eagle. At first, they went as patrons to simply enjoy the event. But this year, Murphy and her husband Bruno are marketing the children’s environmental board game, "Endango." The game was originally invented with a piece of cardboard, a marker and animal figures for characters. The objective of the game is to teach children how recycling effects the animals in different environments and encourage them to recycle.

At first, the Murphys played the game at home, creating an environmental trivia. After testing the game in kindergarten classrooms and going through 11 evolutionary phases of the game, the family started marketing it to zoos, aquariums and museums. Now it is also stocked in the Springdale store, “Dilly Dallys.”

Karen Branch arrived at War Eagle to continue her quest in becoming a full-time potter while working with her husband. Branch uses an ancient Japanese technique called Neriage, where natural oxides are used to mix colors before stacking and slicing porcelain into various shapes and covering them in a wood ash glaze. Her husband built a kiln for their work, which takes 24 hours for a firing, has to be stoked for eight to 10 hours and takes two days to cool.

The two teach at the Ozark Natural Science Center, work at the Earthfire Branch studios and have set up a booth at War Eagle for the past eight years. Branch’s husband said the appeal of the craft fair is the communication with patrons, “I wouldn’t want to work on pottery without a break; it would be too isolated.”

Mike Garner and his sister started the business “Fat Mike’s Beef Jerky” in Winter Haven, Fla., when Garner ended his career in catering.

“The only thing this isn’t good on is ice cream and cake,” Garner said, as he leaned over the table, sprinkling beef jerky into the hands of patrons.

Like many of the vendors at War Eagle, the pair travels to other states, selling their product. When deciding on taking the partnership, Garner’s sister chose the job for its convenience, since she is a stay-at-home mom and can choose if and when she wants to travel.

Garner first heard about War Eagle while he was at the Spring Market in Memphis, Tenn., even though he had been to the same region for the Tontitown Grape Festival and the Prairie Grove Clothesline Festival. Their first experience at War Eagle was so profitable for them that, “On a scale of one to ten, we’d give it a ten,” Garner said. “We can’t wait to come back next year.”

Another vendor found War Eagle because his family lived in the region and would bring him to the craft fair each year.

Growing up in Bentonville, each trip to the War Eagle Craft Fair instilled a sense of wonder in Trent Tally. His wonder for art and the creations displayed at the fair shaped most of the decisions he made after that, such as the classes he chose to take in high school, earning a degree in Ceramics at the UA and the work that he found because of his education.

“I worked at the Terra Studios for five years before opening my own studio in 1992,” Tally said. “This is the fourth year that I’ve gone to the War Eagle Craft Fair (with my own booth); it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Steve Ayers, a potter from Hannibal, Mo., printed an accompanying brochure for one of his creations, called "101 Uses for a Bread Baker (pottery bowl)." In it were suggestions for family relationships, such as, “Use it as a safety helmet for your six-year-old on skates (straps not included),” “Use as a spousal projectile until broken and come buy a new one,” and “Use as Uncle Cliff’s spittoon.”