The GFWC Lutz Arts & Crafts Festival — an event that’s attracted around 30,000 people in recent years — has been canceled because of a possible sinkhole in a road at Lake Park.
Signs on Van Dyke Road and North Dale Mabry Highway let people know that the show has been canceled, and news releases have been sent out to help spread the word.
“Hillsborough County Park Rangers have discovered a sinkhole which has recently opened on the main ingress/egress roadway into the park, and due to safety concerns and liability issues, the county has deemed the road unusable until remedial measures can be taken,” according to a news release from the woman’s club.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
The problem with the road could not be fixed in time for the 36th annual show, scheduled for Dec. 5 and Dec. 6, said Shirley Simmons, the art show’s co-director.
“We’re all disappointed,” Simmons said.
The woman’s club did not find out about the problem until it was too late to find an alternative venue that was large enough to accommodate the show, Simmons said.
So, for the first time in more than three decades, the show won’t go on.
The popular event has been a draw for vendors from all over the country, and has been the largest annual moneymaker for the GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club.
“It probably affected about 300 vendors,” Simmons said. “I had room for one photographer – that was it.”
The show has been a popular stop for vendors who travel about the South to sell their wares and art works at shows and festivals, Simmons said.
For some of them, it’s their best show of the year, she said.
The two-day event also has been a big draw for people who enjoy buying unique holiday gifts.
“It’s always such a wonderful community event,” Simmons said. “It gets everybody into the Christmas spirit.”
Besides giving vendors a quality venue and shoppers a fun place to pick up presents, the show has generated money to help scores of local organizations.
The lack of the revenue will decrease the woman’s club’s ability to help other organizations, causing a ripple effect that will touch many lives.
Published November 25, 2015
