BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — Arts and crafts lovers unite! The Covered Bridge Festival is back. With more than 300 vendors, this is one of the state's largest craft shows.
"We come every year. It's a good place to come and buy Christmas gifts," Sandy Platt said.
The Covered Bridge Festival is in its 41st year and is being held at the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds for the third year. It was formerly held at Knoebels Amusement Resort.
"It's even better now that it's at the fairgrounds because it's so much easier to maneuver around. When it was at Knoebels, it was so tight and hard to get in and out of. Shoppers seem to like it better here," Dave Guzik said.
The four-day event typically draws more than 150,000 people. Vendors say it's already been busy.
"It's really good. I was very surprised for the crowds on a Thursday. I figured it would be slow today, but a lot of people," Elizabeth Pirozzi-Miller said.
"It's only a couple of hours in, but yeah, we've been busy," Guzik said.
People are enjoying all of the crafts. Some tell us they have already made multiple trips to their cars.
"I didn't go clear to the car. I stayed here, and they took the stuff to the car," Platt said.
"We unloaded once, came back and ate, and now we're getting ready to load up again," Cindy Zigarski said.
It's a tradition for this mother-daughter duo to attend the Covered Bridge Festival each year.
"It's nice, and it's expanding. Oh, my gosh, it's just so much. It's overwhelming at times. But it's nice," Linda Dimmick said.
The event is organized by the Columbia-Montour Visitors Bureau and runs through Sunday at the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds.
Check out WNEP's YouTube channel.