"Everything we collect from booth sales will go to great groups in the community," Edwina Kraemer, then president of the GFWC Lutz-Land O'Lakes Woman's Club, told The Laker/Lutz News in 2010. She listed who that meant: "We give money to Boy and Girl Scout troops, the Civil Air Patrol, to youth scholarships, to the Lutz volunteer fire department, to the Lutz Branch Library and others."
The festival has moved a long way since then. This December the 47th Annual Lutz Arts and Crafts Festival takes place at Keystone Preparatory High School, 18105 Gunn Hwy., Odessa. The Lutz name stayed on the show while the address changed, and the money still follows the route Kraemer described. The most recent move came from needing a permanent home for the club's main fundraiser.
Four Addresses Over the Decades
The show began small, as a crafts event at the Old Lutz School. In 2010, co-chairwoman Shirley Simmons told The Laker/Lutz News how it moved from there:
- Old Lutz School on US 41, where the festival started.
- The train depot, which Simmons described as "across the street."
- Lake Park, its home for about a decade by 2010.
- Keystone Prep in Odessa, its home since 2016.
At Lake Park the festival grew into a major event. In 2010 the club had 260 vendors booked plus a waiting list. It also set aside 20 free spots for local groups such as the Lutz Patriots, Relay For Life and the Boy Scouts. The same article put typical attendance at 35,000 to 40,000 over the two days. That made it the largest art fair in Hillsborough County after the Gasparilla Art Festival.
The park also had its limits. In 2009, the county's Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department began charging a new $2 fee per vehicle to enter the park. Combined with a rainy first day, attendance that year fell to about 15,000. According to the paper, none of that parking money went to anyone involved with the festival. The club's biggest fundraiser was running on land it didn't control.
The Year There Was No Show
That problem came to a head in 2015, when a sinkhole at Lake Park forced the club to cancel the festival. The Laker/Lutz News reported that the cancellation pushed the GFWC Lutz-Land O'Lakes Woman's Club to look for a permanent location. The club signed a five-year contract to hold the festival on Keystone Prep's property.
The first show at the new site ran December 3 and 4, 2016, on the school's 60-acre campus. The paper reported that visitors liked the extra space, the U-shaped layout of food booths and the ample parking. That year had more than 350 vendors, about 50 more than two years earlier at Lake Park.
Since then, the show has missed only one more year. A 2021 Laker/Lutz News story said the event had run without fail for decades except twice: in 2015 because of the sinkhole, and in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 show came back at Keystone Prep with more than 200 vendors, Santa, and an orchestra playing holiday music.
Smaller Than Its Peak, Still the Club's Biggest Fundraiser
Today's show is smaller than the first year at Keystone Prep. News stories counted vendors and the club's brochures count booths, so the numbers aren't a perfect match.
| Year | Venue | Reported size | Attendance figure given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Lake Park | 260 vendors | 35,000 to 40,000 typical |
| 2016 | Keystone Prep, first year | More than 350 vendors | 30,000 to 40,000 typical |
| 2021 | Keystone Prep | More than 200 vendors | 20,000 to 30,000 typical |
| 2024 | Keystone Prep | More than 200 vendors | Not stated |
| 2025 | Keystone Prep | 160+ booths | Over 15,000 estimated |
| 2026 | Keystone Prep | 180+ booths | Over 15,000 estimated |
The 2026 booth estimate is up from 2025. The festival is still the club's biggest event. The Laker/Lutz News called it the club's largest yearly fundraiser in 2016, and in 2021 the paper said proceeds support scholarships and a range of community organizations and causes.
The 2026 vendor brochure shows how that money is raised. Arts and crafts exhibitors pay $200 for a 12-by-12 outdoor space or $225 for one indoors. The club takes no commission, and agents or representatives aren't allowed. Food and commercial vendors pay $250. Other local groups raise money at the show too. The brochure says Boy Scouts and school athletic groups may help vendors pack up on Sunday, and asks vendors to tip because it's "a fundraiser for both organizations." The club itself sells hot dogs and drinks.
The no-agents rule matches what Kraemer said in 2010 about who sells at the show: "The great thing is the artists there are the people who made it. They don't buy things and resell them." The club also gives out awards. Its festival page lists Andy Hamilton as 2025 Best in Show and Peggy McCarson as first place in crafts.
About the "47th" in the name: the 2010 article called that year the festival's 50th appearance overall. It also said the woman's club, which didn't run the event at first, was organizing it for the 31st time. The club's own count is the one on the 2026 brochure.
The Lutz Half of the Season
The festival is the biggest event of the holiday season, but not the first. Three weeks earlier, a market inside Lutz runs on the same model:
- Saturday, November 14: St. Timothy's Holiday Boutique, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine, at 17512 Lakeshore Road.
- Saturday and Sunday, December 5 and 6: the 47th Annual Lutz Arts and Crafts Festival at Keystone Prep, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
The St. Timothy's boutique is the Lakeshore Road version of the woman's club festival. The St. Timothy Women's Club runs it, and the church describes it as a nearly four-decade tradition with more than 150 vendors. The club says the boutique and its bingo games raise money for parish goals and other charities. Spaces cost $70 inside the Parish Hall or Youth Center and $60 outdoors. Young sellers 17 and under can rent a Youth Center space for $10. Outside food vendors aren't accepted this year because the church is selling its own food and drinks.
If you're driving to Keystone Prep: at the 2024 show, admission was free and visitor parking cost $5 per car. The 2026 brochure mentions free vendor parking but doesn't list a visitor parking fee, so bring a little cash in case. The show is always on the first weekend of December. In 2026 that means Saturday, December 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, December 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at 18105 Gunn Highway.
I grew up in Tampa, and I love that so much of Lutz's holiday shopping still pays for Scout troops, scholarships and parish projects. If you're planning a December move or a spring listing and want to talk it through while you still remember which booth had the best ornaments, KT Tershowski is happy to help. Let's Connect.
