Shoppers crowd area craft show

Zack Hulet found a Christmas present, a wedding present and several things for his house at the Occoquan Craft Show Sunday afternoon.

Hulet and his fiance, Kelly Scott, jumped fearlessly into the hordes of shoppers who, twice annually, flock to the craft show in search of that perfect knickknack, spice rack, lawn ornament, hat, T-shirt, bracelet, earring or whatever.

Hulet said their foray into the little town by the river was successful.

“It was a great shopping day,” said Hulet, a 24-year-old Marine.

His prize from the craft show, with hundreds of vendors lining the town’s streets selling every craft imaginable from beneath white tents, was a spoon rack for his mother.

He said he was convinced that Occoquan was the only place in the world where someone could find a spoon rack with glass doors.

“It’s the only place I’ve ever seen one,” Hulet said.

The rack, of stained oak topped with a cornice, was designed to hold 50 spoons and be the top rack in a set. Hulet said his mother has more than 50 spoons in her collection so he can buy additional racks as time goes on.

“Next year, I’m going to get another one that goes underneath,” Hulet said.

Nan Thorn-Clemmens said she looked at everything but only bought a few picture frames. She raved about her lunch at the craft show, where visitors could choose to dine on anything from Italian sausages to funnel cakes.

“I had the best crab cake that I’ve ever had in my life down there,” Thorn-Clemmens, of Stafford, said as she disembarked the shuttle bus at the commuter lot at Gordon Boulevard and Old Bridge Road.

She said the crab cake rivaled any she’d had in Maryland.

An Arlington man, known only as Tenley, took the easy way out at the craft show.

Tenley sat on the front porch of the Coffee House of Occoquan at the intersection of Commerce and Washington streets and drank a cup of coffee and munched on caramel popcorn while his wife shopped.

He said the pace of the crowd, as it milled about in the streets below, aggravated his back.

“I can’t walk slowly,” Tenley, 76, said. “I either have to walk or not walk.”

Tenley said he was content to wait and see what his wife, Rouyan, brought back.

“It’s cheap theater,” Tenley said.

Staff writer Keith Walker can be reached at (703) 878-8063.