Discovering The Tasmanian Craft Fair

The Tasmanian Craft Fair, Should you go?

Whenever I hear Craft Fair, I die a little inside. Craft fairs for me are usually to be avoided. Most craft fairs I have attended are usually rather dull and boring. Rows and rows of dodgy looking stalls. Sad looking stall owners trying to sell cheap and badly crafted home made items. Bulk items bought cheap from overseas and tried to be passed off as quality hand crafted goods. Basically, bad items being sold at a premium.

The Tasmanian Craft Fair changed my mind though. I was about to be impressed.

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Tasmanian Craft Fair

The Tasmanian Craft Fair isn’t just your average craft fair. Its not just a small collection of local stall holders trying to sell items in the local community hall. In fact, I wouldn’t even call it purely a craft fair anymore. It encompasses so much more than just crafts. Calling it a craft fair doesn’t feel like it does it the justice it deserves. Artisan Fair might be a more appropriate name?

Artisans descend from all over Australia and internationally to a tiny town at the top of Tasmania. The picturesque river side town of Deloraine.

Deloraine is a short 40 minute drive from both Devonport and Launceston. It has a well established reputation as one of the best arts and craft hubs of Tasmania.

The Tasmanian craft fair is held annually over a 4 days period. Beginning on the first Friday of November and concluding on the first Monday of November.

What To Expect

Boasting over 200+ stalls across multiple venues, the Tasmanian Craft Fair has something for everyone. Encompassing gourmets food and beverages. Wood working to glass sculpting. Knitting to weaving. Screen printing and painting and everything in between. You’ll certainly find something unexpected!

All tastes and budgets are catered for. Craft items range from a few dollars up to the high end items ranging from $2,000 – $3,000+ AU.

With such a huge range of products on offer, its impossible to cover them all. Below is a small glimpse of what you’ll discover.

Health and Beauty

Huge range of health and beauty products. Hand made soaps, lotions and beauty utensils.

Image of a variety of different coloured soaps — Hand made range of soaps

Image of a range of beauty products — Huge range of health and beauty products

Knitting

Colourful knitting equipment, hand crafted knitted items, hand dyed yarns.

Image of colourful wooden knitting needles — Colourful wooden knitting needles

Woodworking

Beautiful range of hand crafted wooden items. Bowls, decorations, kitchen utensils and amazing guitars.

Image of hand crafted wooden guitars — Gorgeous hand crafted wooden guitars

Image displaying hand crafted wooden items — Hand crafted wooden items

Plants

Lovely selections of plants. Cacti, succulents and bonsai tree displays.

Image of succulents and cacti — Succulents and cacti

Image of bonsai trees — Lovely bonsai trees display

Glassware

The glassware was a standout of the fair. Amazing and colourful decorated bowls, plates and decanters.

Image of decorated glass decanter — Stunning decorated glass decanters

Alcohol

Tasmania has some award winning distilleries and breweries. Great selection of whiskeys, gins, beers and wines.

Image of a bottle of Redlands single malt whiskey — Redlands single malt whiskey

Image of a bottle of hellfire gin — Hellfire Gin and Potato Vodka

Quilting

Intricate designed quilts and blankets. Particularly loved the Japanese Geisha quilt.

Image of a quilt featuring a Japaneses geisha — Japaneses geisha quilt

Image of a quilt featuring a Japanese geisha — Japaneses geisha quilt

Gourmet Foods

Huge selections of gourmet foods and tastings. Yummy jams, preserves and sauces. Gourmet nuts and dips. And much more.

Image of bottles of sauces and jams — So many sauces! So many jams!

Image of jam and preserves bottles — Tasty jams and preserves

Live Displays

A real highlight of the Tasmanian Craft Fair is the live displays on offer. Not only can you see some amazing finished products. You can watch them being created. Glass artists melting and shaping over red hot burners. Wood artists turning beautiful objects on their fast spinning lathes. Weavers operating looms to create unique fabric patterns.

It was fascinating to watch these artists at work.

Image of a glass artist melting glass — Glass artist in action

Image of a woman weaving on a loom — Weaving on a foot operated loom

Getting Around

While you can drive from venue to venue. Car parking at some of the smaller venues can be difficult. The Tasmanian Craft Fair is so well organised though that transport is already sorted. Each venue has a designated bus stop. Buses perform regular pick ups at each venue making getting around a breeze. Walking between venues is also possible. Most venues are around 5-10 minutes walk from each other.

Organise cash beforehand. Due to the mobile nature of the fair, some vendors don’t allow card purchases. Those that do allow card purchases can have connectivity issues making cards unusable at certain times. Some venues have ATM’s but its best to plan ahead.

Free parking is available at the main venues with large car parks located at either end of the fair.

Cost/Opening Times

The Tasmanian Craft Fair has a few admission types on offer. One day or four day admission. Family admission is also available as a one day or four day admission. This include 2 adults and 2 children. Children under 10 are free.

Tickets can be purchased online or at each venue. Online tickets are slightly cheaper and allow you to avoid the ticket line up.

We managed to see the entire fair in one day and felt we covered it thoroughly. However, the crowds dropped off dramatically around 3pm. If you had a weekend pass, you could split your time over 4 days. Arriving later in the day and avoiding most of the crowds.

Check the TCF website for up to date pricing.

Held annually over a 4 days period. Beginning on the first Friday of November and concluding on the first Monday of November. 9am to 5pm (Fri, Sat, Sun) 9am to 4pm (Mon)