click to enlarge Devastation from the October 12 tent collapse at the Stowe Foliage Arts Festival - COURTESY OF TIM CIANCIOLA

  • Courtesy of Tim Cianciola
  • Devastation from the October 12 tent collapse at the Stowe Foliage Arts Festival

After a large crafts festival tent collapsed in high winds over the weekend, the organizers of the nationally renowned Stowe Foliage Arts Festival are asking dozens of vendors who lost thousands of dollars in handmade goods to please be patient. They’re still assessing the damage, cleaning up the debris, and waiting to hear back from their tent company and insurance provider.

“It is our intention to do everything that we can to make this right for the exhibitors that were there,” said Tim Cianciola, whose Charlotte company, Craftproducers, has put on the festival for more than 20 years. “But it’s going to take us more than a day.”

Cianciola and his wife, Jenny, were en route to the three-day arts festival early on Saturday morning, October 12, when their security firm called to say the event’s big tent had blown down in high winds, destroying thousands of dollars in original artwork. No one was inside when the tent collapsed, and no injuries were reported, though 80 to 90 exhibitors had booths set up inside. Cianciola couldn’t estimate the cost of damages, which varied widely from vendor to vendor.

The remainder of the festival was immediately canceled, and all tickets were refunded. However, exhibitors were notified by email on Sunday night that their booth fees, which ranged from $550 to $1,150, were nonrefundable. As the company notes on its exhibitor website, “If Craftproducers is forced to cancel a show due to Acts of God, Mother Nature, Governmental Order, War, Civil Unrest, Terrorism, etc., there will be no refund of booth fees.”

The Stowe Foliage Arts Festival had been expecting thousands of visitors over the three-day holiday weekend from October 11 to 13. The acclaimed event, which was a 2024 Daysies award winner for Vermont’s best craft fair, was recently featured in a September 26 New York Times story, “36 Hours in Stowe, Vermont.”

According to a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Burlington, a cold front moving through the region early Saturday morning caused high winds through the Green Mountains, including gusts of up to 55 miles per hour in Stowe. Cianciola said the event tent was supposed to be able to withstand winds of up to 80 miles per hour. However, Seven Days couldn’t confirm that figure, as Cianciola declined to identify the tent company, which he said is based in New York and which he has worked with for years.

As he explained, the owner asked for at least a day to contact his insurance provider to see how it plans to reimburse those affected by the disaster. “And he’s trying to do that without being barraged with emails and phone calls,” Cianciola added.

click to enlarge Damage to Larry Jenne's display booth at the Stowe Foliage Arts Festival - COURTESY OF LARRY JENNE

  • Courtesy of Larry Jenne
  • Damage to Larry Jenne’s display booth at the Stowe Foliage Arts Festival

Among the impacted artisans was Larry Jenne, of ADK Rustiques in Canton, N.Y. The 63-year-old craftsman builds repurposed furniture and home goods, including his most popular item: clocks made out of repurposed bicycle rims, which he called “the hottest things since sliced bread. I’ve sold 500 of them in the last three years.”

Jenne said he was really excited to attend the Stowe Foliage Arts Festival for the first time. He sold a lot of items on Friday and expected an even better day on Saturday. He said he didn’t know that the tent had blown down until he arrived early that morning. He described the scene as “surreal,” as he and other vendors experienced “shock and awe” at the level of destruction.

click to enlarge A collapsed tent at the Stowe Foliage Arts Festival on October 12 - COURTESY OF LARRY JENNE

  • Courtesy of Larry Jenne
  • A collapsed tent at the Stowe Foliage Arts Festival on October 12

But Jenne deemed himself one of the luckier ones. Because his booth was situated near the edge of the tent, which collapsed away from his display, many of his items were undamaged.

More importantly, Jenne was one of at least half a dozen vendors who were able to recoup some of their losses thanks to Kate Carpenter, owner of Stowe Living, a furniture and home goods store on Mountain Road. While driving to work early Saturday morning, Carpenter spotted the devastation and immediately drove to the festival site at Topnotch Field.

“It was so disheartening and crazy,” Carpenter said. She invited any of the vendors to display their wares out of her store or on her front lawn — at no cost. In some cases, Carpenter simply bought all their goods; in other cases, she offered to sell them on commission. At least half a dozen vendors, including Jenne, accepted her offer.

Among them was a single mom, with a 1-year-old child in tow, who makes wooden maps of ski areas. She’d spend thousands of dollars to be at the show.

“She came in in tears,” Carpenter recalled. “She’s like, ‘Oh, my God! This is my whole weekend. This is how I make my money.’”

Carpenter said she bought all of the woman’s maps on the spot and offered them for sale in her shop.

“Now I have only two of those maps left,” she added with a laugh. Late Sunday night, Carpenter emailed the woman, whom she didn’t identify, to inform her that the weekend was actually “a huge success.” Carpenter plans to order more of the maps to sell.

For his part, Jenne said he plans to maintain a business relationship with Carpenter and Stowe Living for as long as she’ll display his work.

“I call her my Vermont angel,” he added. “I would have lost a ton of money if it wasn’t for her.”



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