AUBURN - For more than three decades, the Cayuga Community College Holiday Festival Crafts Show has been one of the most popular and well-attended events the college has hosted.

“This is one of the biggest things we do,” said Norman Lee, director of student activities. “The community really seems to love it, but we get people from all over the place for this. I was talking to a woman with her daughter and she was telling me about how her mother used to bring her and now she is bringing her daughter. It has really become a great family event.”

This year's event drew together more than 150 crafters, with a wide variety of wares, items ranging from Christmas ornaments and toys to hand-crafted jewelry and wood-worked items such as picture frames and other decorative items.

“We actually had to turn people away,” Lee said. “There are only so many we can take and every year we get a lot of the same crafters back, but we also get new ones, so there is a wide variety, a little bit of everything.”

Vendors from across the state and of course locally

vie for the limited spots, many like Mark Soper of Bradford Heights Delights, an Auburn-owned business specializing in baked goods such as Italian cookies.

“This is the first year I've been here,” Soper said. “I've been trying for a couple of years to get a spot here. It is a great thing for me, being local. I'm only a few blocks away. This has helped me get a lot of repeat customers and people that have been glad to see me here in town and hear about what I do, so that has been a big benefit.”

Others such as the Toy Smiths, of Auburn, have been at the show for more than 20 years.

“There has been a really nice turnout,” Sue Smith said. “It has always been a nice kickoff to the holiday season. We do personalized ornaments and I think that helps draw people in. It seems to help us a lot to bring people in, looking to get their Christmas shopping in or get their ornaments.”

Lee estimated that over the course of the two-day event, more than 3,000 people visited the show.

“This year, due to renovation on campus, the show was held in the gym,” he said, “but many shoppers said that this created a spacious, comfortable shopping experience as compared to the more hectic pace of malls and chain stores at this time of year.

“There is a lot more space in here,” Maxine Flynn said. “I've been coming here for the past two or three years and I like it like this; you can move around and look at everything.”

Nancy Ranieri, director of alumni affairs, said this has been an exceptional turnout.

“People were lining up before we even opened the doors,” Ranieri said. “They wanted to get in here and get a head start. There are a lot of great booths for holiday shopping, but there is a little bit of everything here so I think that draws a lot of people that they can find unique things that they might not find anywhere else.”

It is this more than anything that draws shoppers back year after year.

“I've been coming here for a few years,” Jane Paige said. “I just like shopping here; they have a lot of unusual items that you wouldn't really find in other stores. There are a lot of really talented people here and they make wonderful, unique pieces that I really don't think you can find anywhere else.”