Crafts Fair Offers Change Of Pace In Loon Lake

It’s possible to get lost in Loon Lake, even if you’ve been there before.

But if you’re lucky, you’ll reach a point in your meanderings where three guys are standing around two hoods-up pickups that totally block the narrow lakeside road. They’ll stare back with that classic “What, are you, like, wanting to get through here?” look. And you can take the opportunity to ask directions.

“Oh,” one of them will say. “You’re WAY off.”

But the Kris Kringle Mart turned out to be worth finding Saturday.

For one thing, it was held partly in Loon Lake’s old schoolhouse, a modest yet striking brick structure that makes you wish you had your camera. It’s not every day you find a crafts fair in a building on the National Register of Historic Places.

And the sale, sponsored by the Loon Lake Historical Society, offered what might have been the best variety of loon-themed gifts this side of Minnesota.

It wasn’t just T-shirts, refrigerator magnets and tree ornaments. At the Kris Kringle Mart, you could buy loon-shaped licorice and outdoor thermometers decorated with the image of the distinctive duck-like birds. And loon napkins, loon windchimes, loon wrapping paper, loon purses, loon socks, loon stationery and, well, you get the idea.

In addition to the historical society’s fund-raising lineup of loon stuff, the fair offered a small variety of jewelry, wreaths and stuffed bunnies outfitted as angels.

On one of the more frenzied shopping weekends of the year, it provided a relaxed environment in which to decide whether your aunt would like a hand-carved Three Wisemen set, complete with camels.

Maybe it was the suggestive power of the anemic Charlie Brown Christmas trees arranged throughout the schoolhouse and next door at the River of Life Church. But you got the feeling that your purchases were appreciated.

Of course, there’s always that old problem with little crafts fairs. How do you look into the beaming face of a proud artisan and break the news that, no, you won’t be buying any teddy bears-on-a-porch-swing?

Outside the schoolhouse, a loon-colored black and white cat sniffed a row of parked out-of-town cars. The cat had an expression that seemed to say “Nobody checked with me about this.”

Not to worry. Loon Lake would return to normal soon enough.

, DataTimes MEMO: Being There is a weekly feature that visits gatherings in the Inland Northwest.