Twenty Years of Truly Tasmanian

There’s a particular feeling that comes with walking into a country hall on a spring morning. The light is coming in through tall windows, someone is setting out a float of coins, and the trestle tables are already full of things that didn’t exist a year ago. Each one was made by somebody’s hands, somewhere on this island, probably at a kitchen table or in a shed after the day’s other work was done.

That’s the feeling I think of when I think of the Truly Tasmanian Craft Exhibition & Sale in Latrobe. And this year it turns twenty.

A small-town show with a simple promise

The idea behind it is right there in the name. Everything on the tables is handmade in Tasmania, by Tasmanian makers. More than fifty exhibitors will fill Latrobe Memorial Hall over the long weekend, with jewellery, homewares, art and gifts, and the people who made them standing right beside their work.

It’s run by the Apex Club of Latrobe, a community service club, which feels fitting. This isn’t a slick trade show. It’s a town opening its hall to its makers and inviting everyone else in to meet them. Twenty years of that is no small thing. Think of how many first stalls have happened in that room, how many nervous makers set out their work and waited to see if anyone would stop, and how many came back the next year a little braver.

Why a show like this matters

I’ve written before about why creative communities matter, and how confidence doesn’t grow in a vacuum. Events like this are where a lot of that growing happens.

For makers, a regional exhibition is often the first real audience outside friends and family. It’s a chance to hear what people notice in your work (sometimes not what you expected), to compare notes with the stallholder next to you, and to remember that you’re part of something bigger than your own studio corner.

For the rest of us, it’s a chance to buy differently. When you pick up a mug or a pair of earrings and the person who made it is right there, the object comes with a story. You can ask about the glaze, the timber, the hours. That conversation is part of what you take home.

If you’re going

A few gentle suggestions, if you’re heading along (and I hope you are):

• Go slowly. Do a full lap before you buy anything. Let yourself notice what you keep returning to.
• Talk to the makers. Most of them love being asked about their process. You don’t need to buy to start a conversation.
• Bring cash, just in case. Many stallholders take cards now, but country halls and phone signal don’t always agree.
• Think ahead to the gift-giving season. It’s early November, which means this is a lovely chance to find handmade, local gifts before December rushes in.
• Make a day of it. Latrobe is a pretty town to wander, and the Tasmanian Craft Fair in Deloraine runs across the same weekend (30 October – 1 November). If you’ve got the time, it’s a very good weekend to be a maker in the north-west.

The details

• When: Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November, 9am – 4:30pm; Monday 2 November, 9am – 3pm
• Where: Latrobe Memorial Hall, 170 Gilbert Street, Latrobe
• Entry: Adults $6, children up to 16 $2, under 5s free
• Who: 50+ Tasmanian makers, presented by the Apex Club of Latrobe
• More info: Truly Tasmanian Craft Exhibition and Sale on Facebook

Twenty years of hands at work

What I love most about an anniversary like this is what it says about patience. Nobody builds a twenty-year event in one go. It happens one weekend at a time, with volunteers setting up tables, makers coming back, and visitors who return each year because it has quietly become part of how they mark the season.

That’s how a creative community grows, too. Slowly, and by showing up.

If you go, I’d love to hear what you found, and who you met. Tag the journal, or send me a note.

With warmth,

Caroline