38th Annual Heritage Festival coming to SIC November 7-8

For years the Heritage Festival has served as an unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season in the area, and this year will be no exception. Coming Nov. 7-8, the 38th annual Heritage Festival at Southeastern Illinois College will run from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Sunday. 

The festival focuses on locally hand-crafted items, along with entertainment, food, and a few heritage craft demonstrations. Admission to the event and parking are both free. Handicap parking is available.

A full house of over 120 vendors from four different states with close to 200 booths will be selling unique wares, including handmade jewelry, handmade American Girl® look alike clothing, handmade soaps, hand-painted items, dough art ornaments, primitive furniture, metal barn quilts, fishing rod lamps, wreaths, purses, wooden bowls, porcelain dolls, bird feeders, candles and apparel amongst other items.  Companies represented will include RADA knives, Mary Kay, Scentsy, Embroidery FX and Origami Owl. 

Heritage crafts with live demonstrations include spinning, basket weaving, oil painting, watercolor painting and more.

Donna Hearn, SIC’s Community Outreach Supervisor for Community Education, has directed the Heritage Festival for the last 15 years. 

“The Heritage Festival is so important to our community,” said Hearn. “Many vendors are local crafters and this is their income which they spend locally and because many people come in from other states and the surrounding counties, they spend money in our restaurants, buy gas and stay in our hotels, it helps our economy.”

The weekend draws large crowds and is one of the largest events held at Southeastern each year.        

Any great fall festival must include food, and this year’s Heritage Fest will be no exception. In addition to the items for sale at various booths, the college’s Falcon Pointe Bistro will serve complete dinners, soup, salads, sandwiches, and desserts.

SIC Junior Falcon Productions will perform a special showing of Honk! The Musical at 2 p.m. on Sunday.  Additional entertainment is expected for Saturday at 2 p.m.  Both performances will be held in the college’s Student Center located in the Harry L. Crisp Conference Center in B building.

For questions about Heritage Festival, call Donna Hearn at 618-252-5400 or toll free 866-338-2742, ext. 3213.

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