For nearly 20 years, visitors to the Oregon State Fair could follow a path away from the rides, turn a corner and find the Artisan Village in a quieter area with grass and gardens. It featured a live band, food carts and a collection of handcrafted work including blown glass, jewelry and metalwork. Visitors could even try their hand at making ceramic art.

The area was “lightning in a bottle,” and a draw for many fairgoers who enjoyed shopping for high-quality, unique work in a designated area away from the mass produced toys and cheaply made items found elsewhere, said blacksmith Trystan Nguyen, who has been a part of it for three years. 

But this year, significant price hikes for vendors and a decision to move them to a paved area mixed in with the commercial vendors has led to a boycott from all 15 of last year’s artisans, Nguyen said.

“I am hopeful that this solidarity holds!” he said in a Tuesday email to Salem Reporter.

The Oregon State Fair runs from Aug. 22 to Sept. 1 this year. The former Artisan Village space has been rebranded as the Sunflower Shops, and will feature sales of crafted foods like vegetables, honey and jams, said fair spokeswoman Alex Hasenstab.

The majority of the Artisan Village vendors have found a new place to land a few weeks later: The Salem Art Fair and Festival, which will be at Bush’s Pasture Park from Sept. 12-14 . 

Last year, it cost Nguyen $450 for a 100 square foot booth in the Artisan Village. In December, he said the fair informed artisans that they would be charged around $1,500 this year. They would also be relocated to a spot on pavement outside Columbia Hall, rather than in the designated community space which Nguyen said made the Artisan Village special.

Another longtime tradition is set to end this year, too: the Willamette Art Center’s raku ceramics booth which allowed people to make, fire and take home their own pottery for $5. The fair did not renew the art center’s lease earlier this year, and Executive Director Lisa Joyce said it would not be feasible to do without that space. They’re planning to move elsewhere in Salem.

After a May 7 Reddit post from Nguyen sharing his frustrations gained community traction, Oregon State Fair events coordinator Maddie Kansky emailed him the next day with a lower offer for the artisans: $1,058 and a return to the grassy nook, rather than the pavement.

“An artisan is defined as a skilled craftsperson who creates handmade goods with an emphasis on quality, creativity, and traditional methods. These one-of-a-kind or small-batch products—such as pottery, jewelry, textiles, woodwork, or metalwork—add authenticity and charm to the fair experience,” Kansky wrote in the email, which Nguyen forwarded to Salem Reporter.

In a May interview with Salem Reporter, Kansky said that the fair made the changes intending to expand the experience and add more artisans, antique and boutique experiences, with more exposure and foot traffic.

She said that the cost increase came from increased expenses for hosting the vendors, like utilities and tents, and that the fair raised fees for commercial vendors, too.

“Everyone across the board received an increase. We were just working on, one, fair charging pricing and two, making sure that with the cost increase we were also being fair to everyone,” Kansky said.

In 2024, the state fair reported $10.2 million in revenue and $9.1 million in expenses, according to a January report.

The lower offer for the booth space, still double what they paid last year, remained unaffordable for many vendors, Nguyen said, especially those who travel to Salem from elsewhere in the state each year and operate on thin margins. The artists ultimately decided as a group not to set up shop at the fair this year, and asked their customers to forego buying tickets.

“We would hope that, because of the disregard for the artists’ time and the amount of effort and unique atmosphere that we bring to these types of events, that the best choice was just to tell our clientele and make posts on social media encouraging people not to attend,” he said in an interview.

Nguyen said it will be a loss for the Oregon State Fair, and he hopes they’ll realize what they’re missing and lower their prices next year.

But, at least for this year, the Oregon State Fair’s loss is the Salem Art Fair’s gain.

Anna Davis, who coordinates the annual art festival for the Salem Art Association, said she read about the situation in the Statesman Journal, and wanted to find a way to help the artisans. With the deadline for art fair sign-ups approaching, she fired an invitation off to Nguyen, extended the deadline, and began brainstorming other opportunities.

Their cost of $550 for a booth for a fair that has a vendor vetting process to ensure quality was a good deal, Nguyen said, though some weren’t able to take it due to the short notice.

About ten of the Artisan Village vendors ended up applying for the Salem Art Fair, Davis said.

She sees it as an opportunity for the art fair to get back to its roots.

“A lot of people who have a lot of nostalgia and memories from previous art fairs tell me that we used to have a lot of artisans there,” Davis said, like glass blowing, and pottery wheel throwing. “They really missed that, and it wasn’t something that we’d had.”

A few years ago, she had a stone carver come to demonstrate their work process live for visitors, which she said was a hit. As more families have been coming out to the fair, she’s wanted to add experiences for people who aren’t there just to buy fine art. 

“It was kind of in the back of my mind, that I would love to have more of that,” she said.

That goal hadn’t been working out this year, with many of the artists she asked saying they didn’t have the bandwidth.

“So then, when I saw the state fair artisans, I was like, ‘There we go. There’s a bunch of artisans that can do demos,’” she said, and laughed.

Among them is Nguyen, who plans to set up his forge so visitors can see him work. There’s another artist planning to do Bob Ross-style landscape paintings live, and face painting demonstrations, Davis said. She offered discounts for artists willing to do live demonstrations. 

“It’s going to add so much to the fair experience,” Davis said.

She’s also still looking for more artists who would be willing to do live demos, and invited anyone interested to send an email to [email protected].

Nguyen said Davis’ efforts to make community events more enjoyable and engaging is bucking a trend he’s seen as a vendor who grew up in Salem. He recalled growing up as a first-generation American from a low-income family, when events like the World Beat Festival allowed him to explore, learn and build community at no cost. 

He said he felt like the Oregon State Fair put profit above everything else this year.

“Everything is becoming so much more corporatized in Salem over the past 20 years, and it’s been really heartbreaking to see,” he said.

Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.

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