Annual Creative Camp workshop slated for Oct. 19 at 4-H Campground
Sharon Flannagan with one of the market baskets she made. Flannagan is teaching a market basket class at the upcoming 2024 Creative Camp being held on Oct. 19 at the Wood County 4-H Camp on Butcher Bend Road near Mineral Wells. She will be teaching people how to weave a 12-inch by 17-inch basket as part of classes being offered that teach heritage skills. Her class is $38 per participant and includes materials. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)
Wooden Flower Arrangements, taught by Kari Brown, will be one of the classes taught at the upcoming 2024 Creative Camp being held on Oct. 19 at the Wood County 4-H Camp on Butcher Bend Road near Mineral Wells. Participants will be provided with the plain white handmade flowers to dye and assemble into an arrangement. This class is $20 per participant and includes materials. (Photo Provided)
Paintings on canvas by Betsy Newbanks. These types of paintings will be taught at the upcoming 2024 Creative Camp being held on Oct. 19 at the Wood County 4-H Camp on Butcher Bend Road near Mineral Wells. This class is $20 per participant and includes materials. (Photo Provided)
A felted wool coaster is one of the things participants can make at the 2024 Creative Camp being held on Oct. 19 at the Wood County 4-H Camp on Butcher Bend Road near Mineral Wells. Participants are being sought to participate in this year’s camp. (Photo Provided)
Sharon Flannagan with one of the market baskets she made. Flannagan is teaching a market basket class at the upcoming 2024 Creative Camp being held on Oct. 19 at the Wood County 4-H Camp on Butcher Bend Road near Mineral Wells. She will be teaching people how to weave a 12-inch by 17-inch basket as part of classes being offered that teach heritage skills. Her class is $38 per participant and includes materials. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)
Wooden Flower Arrangements, taught by Kari Brown, will be one of the classes taught at the upcoming 2024 Creative Camp being held on Oct. 19 at the Wood County 4-H Camp on Butcher Bend Road near Mineral Wells. Participants will be provided with the plain white handmade flowers to dye and assemble into an arrangement. This class is $20 per participant and includes materials. (Photo Provided)
Paintings on canvas by Betsy Newbanks. These types of paintings will be taught at the upcoming 2024 Creative Camp being held on Oct. 19 at the Wood County 4-H Camp on Butcher Bend Road near Mineral Wells. This class is $20 per participant and includes materials. (Photo Provided)
A felted wool coaster is one of the things participants can make at the 2024 Creative Camp being held on Oct. 19 at the Wood County 4-H Camp on Butcher Bend Road near Mineral Wells. Participants are being sought to participate in this year’s camp. (Photo Provided)
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MINERAL WELLS -- Heritage skills, arts and crafts and educational classes will be offered in October during a one-day "Creative Camp" at the Wood County 4-H Campground on Butcher Bend Road.
The 54th Annual Creative Camp, scheduled for 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 19, is a craft and educational workshop sponsored by the Cultural Arts Committee of the Wood County Community Educational Outreach Service Club.
"We have so many wonderful classes available," organizer Annie Lewellyn said. "It is amazing."
There are classes available on basket making, button pictures, crochet, making Christmas stockings, doing floral arrangements, making greeting cards, leather work, Mediterranean cooking, making wood flower arrangement, working with tools, working with small engines and more.
They also have classes on quilting and genealogy that have not had a lot of people sign up for yet, organizers said.
Many of the classes are offered for an hour and a half period throughout the day.
Lewellyn said she made a basket at Creative Camp in 1985 and now is one of its organizers.
"Taking a class like this can be a life changing experience," Lewellyn said. "I went from making one basket to making a lot of baskets to selling baskets to going to all these major big shows and giving all these classes and putting my son through college.
"All of my kids and grandkids know how to make baskets."
It is something for all of the instructors to be able to pass these heritage skills down, Lewellyn said.
"We have had people come in from all over, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and all over," she said. "Many are friends who come together.
"It is good fellowship."
Sharon Flannagan, who teaches a market basket class, said she got involved with the Creative Camp after meeting Lewellyn at the Harvest Moon Festival and has been teaching at the camp for a number of years.
"It is so much fun," she said. "I hope we get more people to sign up."
Extension agent Gwen Crum is teaching the Mediterranean cooking class, including a couple of different dishes as well as baklava. Information will be handed out to participants on how to do the different dishes.
"I hope the people who come gain a new skill and have a life changing experience," Lewellyn said. "Many people who take the classes go on and do other things with these skills.
"People can gain a new hobby. Some of these heritage skills are in danger of being lost without classes like these to carry on what our ancestors deemed so important to everyday life."
Flannagan said she has seen many people take the same classes as they work to improve their skills.
"I do see repeats," she said.
"For many, those skills are slowly fading away," Lewellyn added. "We are giving an opportunity to learn those skills."
The skills being taught go beyond crafting.
Bob Buchanan, who is helping Joe Vaughan teach about working with tools and working with small engines, said these classes help people who are single and not up on small tools in combination with machinery.
"How can you take a mixer apart safely and what tools do you need," he said of things those classes will teach. "This is a rare opportunity for (Vaughan) to show all of these tools and teach people how to operate them safely and what to look for if something breaks down."
It is not just craft classes they are offering, Lewellyn said.
Registration is $2 per person and $7 for lunch. The registration pays local 4-H officials for the use of the camp buildings.
Each class has its own associated costs that are paid directly to the instructors. Classes range from free to $38, depending on the class.
Registration is still open for this year's event.
For more information about the camp or the classes and their associated costs go to Wood County CEOS on Facebook which has a section for the Creative Camp event or contact Lewellyn at 304-482-8551 or annie.lewellyn@gmail.com, Debbie Gilbert at 304-464-8352 or at debgi74@aol.com or Crystle Buchanan at 304-210-5219 or crystlebuchanan@yahoo.com.