(Photo by Gwen Sour) From left, Esther Salem discusses the woodworking process with Amy and Adam Nicholas at the Fort Frye High School Craft Show.

BEVERLY — The Fort Frye Local Schools community kicked off the holiday season with its third annual Christmas craft show Saturday, filling the high school with handmade goods, student projects and local vendors.

Engineering teacher Tracey Huck said this year’s event brought in more than 45 vendors, with many items crafted in local homes — and some in Fort Frye classrooms.

“Today is our third annual Christmas craft show. We have over 45 vendors,” Huck said. “Most of our items are handmade.

“Some of our items that we have today have been produced by our engineering students and then the welding department, so we have a variety of items that have been handmade by those kids this year.”

National Honor Society students also spent the day helping with a Santa activity for children as part of their service project, Huck said.

(Photo by Gwen Sour) Engineering teacher Tracey Huck prepares country store tickets at Saturday’s craft show at Fort Frye High School.

The event is designed to support local makers while offering families a different kind of holiday shopping experience.

“Well, our holiday craft shows, we want to provide a space for vendors that are local, and [to allow] people to come in and have a holiday shopping [experience] that you don’t necessarily get when you’re going to go to the big box store,” Huck said. “That allows our local folks to have a place to land and show their wares … and it allows many vendors from a variety of places [to] just have a great experience and support our school. The items that are, you know, a portion [of] the proceeds from a variety of things today go to our engineering students.”

Among the vendors was Debbie Williams, owner of Debbie’s Greenhouse in Vincent, who brought a table full of plants, including some exotic offerings.

“Yes, it’s called Debbie’s Greenhouse, and it’s in Vincent, and it’s a small greenhouse, and I have all these different kind of plants, and I try to do some exotic type things, things that people don’t normally have,” Williams said.

She said one of her favorites proved especially popular.

(Photo by Gwen Sour) The halls of Fort Frye High School bustle with hundreds of shoppers for the craft show on Saturday afternoon.

“My favorite, it would be the pitcher plant. I love the pitcher plant,” Williams said. “Yeah, I have those. I just sold the last one.”

Williams said the response from shoppers exceeded her expectations.

“This has been a fantastic craft show. I have never been here before. We’re in a very good spot,” she said. “I have a lot of empty spots. I will be back here.”

Retired Washington State Community College faculty member Esther Salem displayed a table of wooden crafts — all of them benefitting local charities.

“I’ve been woodworking for a very long time,” Salem said. “But now in my retirement, what I’m doing and focusing on is making this variety of wood crafts, and I keep trying new things just to not get bored. I spend a lot of time woodworking, and I make all of these things, and then I come to craft shows like this, and then I sell them to members of the public to raise money for local charities.”

She said buyers can choose where their purchase is donated.

“Sometimes I specify just the Humane Society, which I’m very involved with, and other times, I give people a choice, and I have a card here that says, you know, you could pick either the Humane Society here in Marietta, the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, or the local chapter of orchestra,” she said. “So you buy something, and then I donate that money to whichever organization you prefer.”

Huck said the combination of local vendors, student-made items and volunteer support has turned the craft show into a growing holiday tradition for the Fort Frye community.