MONROE - People know when they attend the annual Christkindlmarkt at Turner Hall in Monroe they will find gifts and crafts unlike anything they can find anywhere else.
About 40 vendors came to Turner Hall to show off their crafts and their products for people who wanted to shop for something different.
Some of the crafts available for sale included wood carvings, Christmas decorations and painted plates and pitchers. All of them take a while to create, but that's what separates them from items found at other locations.
Ernst Possner, Monroe, explained to potential customers the care and time he puts in all his wood carvings. He spent 20 years perfecting his trade, he said.
"You start out doing one or two pieces a week," he said as he showed cows, bears, horses and jewelry boxes he carved by hand over the years.
His products are a result of many years of work making items from wood both in the United States and also in Germany, he said.
"We were always working with wood, making things," he said.
Over the years, he's gotten better and faster at carving wood.
"You carve what you like and you do it over and over again," he said.
Annie Segner, Monroe, teaches people how to paint plates and pitchers. Each has brilliant colors and are a testament to the creativity of Segner and her students, Marjorie Swain and Dee Lenz, both from Freeport, who came with her to Turner Hall.
The women explained they paint the plates a little at a time and then fire them in the kiln. When the plates cool, they paint a little more and then put them back into the kiln. It's an intricate process, but well worth it when the plates are finished.
Also popular at the market were Swiss baked goods. The Braetzli, a pressed Swiss cookie, were in demand by shoppers. After three hours, with four hours still to go, more than 40 dozen of them were sold, making them the best-selling food items.
Christkindlmarkt is a traditional German Christmas market. It literally means Christ-Child Market. Although the history of the market goes back to the 17th Century, Turner Hall has had the event the past four years. Turner Hall is a logical place to have the event and organizers said it fit well with the Swiss Heritage Series.
About 40 vendors came to Turner Hall to show off their crafts and their products for people who wanted to shop for something different.
Some of the crafts available for sale included wood carvings, Christmas decorations and painted plates and pitchers. All of them take a while to create, but that's what separates them from items found at other locations.
Ernst Possner, Monroe, explained to potential customers the care and time he puts in all his wood carvings. He spent 20 years perfecting his trade, he said.
"You start out doing one or two pieces a week," he said as he showed cows, bears, horses and jewelry boxes he carved by hand over the years.
His products are a result of many years of work making items from wood both in the United States and also in Germany, he said.
"We were always working with wood, making things," he said.
Over the years, he's gotten better and faster at carving wood.
"You carve what you like and you do it over and over again," he said.
Annie Segner, Monroe, teaches people how to paint plates and pitchers. Each has brilliant colors and are a testament to the creativity of Segner and her students, Marjorie Swain and Dee Lenz, both from Freeport, who came with her to Turner Hall.
The women explained they paint the plates a little at a time and then fire them in the kiln. When the plates cool, they paint a little more and then put them back into the kiln. It's an intricate process, but well worth it when the plates are finished.
Also popular at the market were Swiss baked goods. The Braetzli, a pressed Swiss cookie, were in demand by shoppers. After three hours, with four hours still to go, more than 40 dozen of them were sold, making them the best-selling food items.
Christkindlmarkt is a traditional German Christmas market. It literally means Christ-Child Market. Although the history of the market goes back to the 17th Century, Turner Hall has had the event the past four years. Turner Hall is a logical place to have the event and organizers said it fit well with the Swiss Heritage Series.