Hub Staff

Volunteers were busy setting up for the 46th annual Southampton Craft Show, two days prior to the event. There was hustle and bustle as they marked out and labelled areas for the booths and readied tables for the vendors to start setting up the following day. The festival is held annually on the first Thursday of July.

The proceeds of the craft show go to PRANCE (Pegasus Riding Association Nurturing Challenged Equestrians), located off highway 21, just north of Port Elgin. PRANCE is a charitable, non-profit organization that offers therapeutic equestrian programs designed to help people with intellectual, physical and emotional disabilities.

The craft show got its start with the area's Women's Institute at the helm. In recent years, PRANCE has taken over the fund raising event. The Women's Institute and PRANCE worked together in tandem for the first year and now PRANCE has been running it on its own for the past 11 years.

The craft show raises approximately $14,000 each year for the charitable organization, although this year's proceeds won't be known until the end of July.

PRANCE operations manager and volunteer co-ordinator, Ann Veyvara-Divinski said, "The craft show supports our general program so it supports the implementation of our therapeutic equestrian program."

Vendors' booths, admission to the craft show, a 50/50 draw, a food and pie booth profits are all ways that money is raised for the program. This year a special $100 horse coin, donated to PRANCE, was available as a prize draw. Tickets for the coin were available for $5 each or $10 for 3.

The Craft Show, held on Thursday, July 2nd from 10am to 7pm offered a free hourly service to and from several locations in Port Elgin and the Southampton Coliseum, the event's location.