Newsletter - November 2026

President’s Message

All I can say is a BIG WOW! Our 76^th Annual Holiday Fine Art and Craft Festival at the Hamburg Field House was pretty darn great. For me, personally, it took me back to my early days as a craftsman. I did my first Christmas Craft show there, way too many years ago. 

Our 77^th Holiday Fine Art and Craft Festival will be at The Hamburg Field House next year on Saturday, October 9, 2027. So, mark your calendars. 

Moving onto the future, November 3, 2027 is our general meeting at the GoggleWorks. Beginning at 7:00 PM our program will feature some of our newly juried members. Each newly juried member will do a presentation of themselves and their juried craft. This is always a great evening, and getting to know and talk with our newest members about their craft/art is important. Supporting each other in craft and art is what brings us together as a craft guild. At our business meeting following our program, we will be voting for new officers and voting on changes to our by-laws. 

I want to say a big thank you to all our members and their families and friends for supporting craftsmen and artists everywhere. Let us remember to be grateful for all our blessings, for there are many. Happy Thanksgiving. 

”Two important things are to have a genuine interest in people and to be kind to them. Kindness, I’ve discovered, is everything.” 

Isaac Bashevis Singer

And “Believe me now or believe me later.” Barry Bennecoff

Your President,

Barry L. Bennecoff

Programs

Please join us for the general meeting at GoogleWorks on November 3rd.

It starts at 7:00 PM.

New members who were inducted into the Guild in March and September and will share some details of their craft and show some examples of their work. Join us at the meeting and welcome them to the Guild. 

Save the Date! December 1^st will be our annual holiday dinner. Do you have a suggestion for the location of our dinner? Please email me as soon as possible at birdgyrl@gmail.com with suggestions.

Program Chair,

Amy Langman

programs@rbcrafts.org

Social Media

On behalf of the Social Media team, I want to thank everyone for following our Facebook and Instagram accounts ahead of the Holiday show. 

We now have 2,386 followers on Facebook and are running strong. We got 3,869 Facebook views of our show videos, and our most viewed show post got 8,924 views. On Instagram, we have 825 followers. That shows great engagement! 

The crowds were great at our show, and there was a strong buying audience. The change of venue didn’t seem to deter folks from coming out and enjoying the great music and amazing art.

Thank you, everyone!

Gary Rosborough,

Social Media Chair

social-media@rbcrafts.org

BCTV

The next program of “Your Berks Craftsmen” will be recorded on Thursday, November 5, 2026, and you will be delighted to see the return of the Dynamic Decorating Duo, Janice Sonnen and Nancy Vardjan as they present “Decorating for the Holidays”. It will begin airing on Wednesday, November 11, 2026 at 7:00 PM just in time for you to use their advice on Holiday decorating. With their inspiration and creativity, these gals get our creative juices flowing and make “Decorating for the Holidays” another special event(s) to look forward to at this beautiful time of the year. Get your friends together and have a watch party. We will be glad you did.

Find BCTV on air and online:

Comcast Reading Channel 15

Comcast-Southern Berks Channel 965

Service Electric Channel 19

Both channels are streaming online 24-7 at www.bctv.org 

BCTV is available on Roku, search for BCTV Berks - HOW TO VIDEO

You Tube Channel

Access Your Berks Craftsmen directly.

Thanks for watching,

Your Host of “Your Berks Craftsmen”,

Kay L. Bennecoff

Standards

Meet our three newly juried members at our November 3^rd meeting.

Kristin Gawlik

Ceramics

Drew Helm Woodcarving

Sylvia K. Aston

Botanical Art

The next Jury Session for new members is on Tuesday, March 2, 2027, in Room 325 at the GoogleWorks in Reading, PA. Set up begins at 5:30 and the jurying session begins at 6:00. You must be a member of the Pennsylvania Guild with selecting the Reading Berks Guild of Craftsmen as your chapter selection. Also include prior information about standards of work as well as information online on the website - STANDARDS.

Standards Chairperson,

Diane Phalen

standards@rbcrafts.org

Newsletter

If you would like to put something in the Newsletter, please contact us at newsletter@rbcrafts.org

Newsletter Editor,

Nancy Vardjan