RUMFORD — Congress Street was nearly barren of parked cars and traffic for most of the day on Friday.

The municipal office was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but the post office and banks were open.

“It’s a quiet little town today,” Nina Langervin, a sales clerk at Carlisle’s Apparel and Footwear at 92 Congress St., said.

She said business was “kind of quiet and steady,” but picks up later in the day when people return from Black Friday shopping in the bigger cities.

“Usually, around 2 o’clock when they head back from the city is when we get it,” she said.

If she wasn’t working, Langervin said she would have spent Black Friday not in Lewiston-Auburn or Portland, but rather in Bethel at The Local Craft & Wares Fair. 

Business was thriving at that event early Friday afternoon in the Bethel Inn Conference Center off Main Street behind Northeast Bank.

Crowds of people of all ages poured into Bethel for it and kept DiAnne Ward and her Belgian draft and Newfoundland pony mix horse “Sam I Am” of Deepwood Farm in Albany Township busy participating in wagon rides up and down Main Street.

“It’s been very busy today,” Sharon Gilsleider of Dixfield and owner of Sew Well Designed, said while knitting mittens for her grandchildren for Christmas.

“Last year, we had some really busy times, and then it quieted right down and picked up around lunch time. This morning, it started right up early and it’s been fairly steady.”

The longtime crafter and seamstress was selling vintage-looking outfits for American Girl dolls, Barbie doll clothing and doll quilts.

“I think people are more into buying local this year,” she said. “I was here last year and they weren’t buying much, but I think people are buying more locally now, because they’re struggling and they want to help their neighbors.”

Gilsleider and other crafters described the crowds as a good mix of age groups, locals and people who are visiting the area for the holiday weekend.

“People now are thinking about buying local versus buying everything at the bigger stores,” she said.

“I think they’re thinking about their neighbors, which is a good thing, because us crafters, a lot of us, if we make money, then we’re going to go spend money at local stores.”

Gilsleider said she buys laces and buttons in Dixfield and cloth at Marden’s in Rumford.

She and her husband, who is retired, used to make and sell wooden cutting boards and pepper mills as a full-time living. Now, Gilsleider sells custom-made ambulances for Professional Vehicle Corp. of Rumford and makes and sells crafts as a hobby.

She said people seem to be looking for quality now.

Beaded jewelry crafter Beth Andrews of South Paris said it was so busy Friday that “sometimes you couldn’t see the other side of the room.”

Jewelry crafter Ann Pernice of Bradford, Mass., and owner of Northern Light Jewels, also said business was good.

“It’s nice when people like what you do,” she said.

Crafter Andrea Howe, co-owner of Maine Guide Snowshoes & Furniture Co. of Pleasant Ridge Plantation near Bingham, agreed with Pernice. She was selling miniature wooden snowshoe swag door hangers.

“Business has been steady, I had a good day and I’m glad I came,” Howe said. “I’ve never been here before, but I love the area and our snowshoes fit well with the area.”

Jewelry crafter Lynda Rasco of Harvest Gold Gallery in Center Lovell agreed with Gilsleider’s assessment of buyers.

“Everyone seems pretty upbeat,” Rasco said.

“I think the crowd wants quality, they’re shopping for quality and they’re willing to pay for it, and they all want American-made. They really are being careful.”

Shopper Louisa Abarno of Greenwood, who was examining Rasco’s wares, agreed.

“We decided not to do the Black Friday (big-store shopping) bit,” she said.

“Then you can support local so we can get our economy back, for sure.”

tkarkos@sunjournal.com