Published: November 24, 2025
On November 15th and 16th, the University of Southern Maine hosted a craft show in the Costello Sports Complex. The event was held to help support student athletes attending USM by accepting optional donations as the event’s admission fee. With over one hundred and fifty different vendors, they carried books you could get personally signed by the authors, an array of knitted items, homemade spices and cooking utensils, Christmas ornaments, clothes, jewelry, birdhouses crafted from license plates, custom paintings, and much more. Food vendors were spread around offering quick samples as you passed by or snacks to eat between shopping. The craft fair even offered two raffles; one allowed you to sign up for the chance to win a zero-interest fifty dollar credit card, and another allowed you to purchase tickets, which started at twenty-five tickets for the price of five dollars, that you could put into various brown bags for the chance to win the item within each bag.
On both days the event had similar hosting times, with it running from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the 15th and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the 16th. For non-USM residents and students, parking fees were three dollars for the day or five dollars for two day parking. A different atmosphere than the regular gymnasium allowed for college students to relax and check some items off their Christmas shopping lists without having to travel too far, while also creating an enjoyable space for students to bring their families. If you were interested in attending but missed this one, just look out for upcoming future events; this isn’t the first time that Costello Sports Complex has held a craft show to help support members of the student body and, presumably, won’t be the last.
