Croptoberfest turns a new page this year

The quiet parish hall of St. Gertrude’s Church in Woodstock, New Brunswick came alive with the sight of about a dozen people all lined up at different tables. Each table was 6′ apart from each other, and yet were littered with photos, binders, and just about everything one needed for scrapbooking.

Croptoberfest is semi-annual event hosted by Creative Memories Advisor Annette Dykeman since 2005. The event unites scrapbookers of all ages to scrap-book the day away. It ran from 9: am to 4: pm last Saturday, and cost 20 dollar for admission. Once inside, attendees were free to scrap-book to their heart’s content, provided they brought their own kit. Some scrapbooking items and products were on sale inside at a special table.

This year’s event came without many frills; with the pandemic and all, safety was the number one concern at the event. All tables were spaced apart, masks were mandatory, and hand sanitizer was stationed at the door.

Its drew a relatively close-knit crowd of about nine to ten people; less than the norm, which was to be expected but still plenty of people for the event.

While Dykeman may have questioned herself leading up to the event, she had no regrets about hosting it this year. “We’re having a good time”, Dykeman said. “I did second guess myself but like I say there’s only the one case in the Fredericton region right now so we thought we’d be pretty safe especially taken the precautions that we have.”

When the pandemic first broke out last spring, Dykeman had to cancel the usual spring event for National Scrapbooking Day, and their September event in Saint John. Yet Croptober continued, with Dykeman setting the date and getting right to work on making it happen in early October. Things were a little rocky at first mind you; the event’s usual venue, the Woodstock Golf & Curling Club, was forgone due to the issue of attendance. St. Gertrude’s Parish Hall was settled as the new location for Croptoberfest and the event went off without a hitch.

In spite of the amount of people in the room, the parish hall was quiet as most attendees focused on their projects. The occasional laugh or chit-chat broke the silence, but there was a kind of mellowness to the room.

The attendees consisted entirely of women, many of whom had frequented the event for years now. While not every regular turned out this year, most of them made an effort to appear.

“I thought it was time that some of us got together”, said Ann White who was one of the regulars in attendance. “This isn’t a group that chums with one another wholeheartedly. But we scrapbook together and we had missed our September weekend in Saint John because of COVID.”

Togetherness could sum up the appeal of this event. People who didn’t normally meet, especially with social distancing in effect, came together to spend the day enjoying and sharing one of their favorite hobbies with one another.

Come next year, and Dykeman believes the Spring National Scrapbooking Day meet will come to fruition. With all of the proper safety measures in place, and with Croptoberfest going well, Dykeman is certain it will go well.

Hopefully, dealing with a pandemic during their events will be one thing they can close the book on.