Cathy Coontz-Griffith, co-owner of Sisterhood of the Mushrooms, takes a drink of water as she sits between two fans at her booth on Friday at the Mountain State Art and Craft Festival at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

RIPLEY – Attendees and vendors at the 64th annual Mountain State Art and Craft Festival had to adapt to temperatures in the mid-to-upper 90s during the annual Independence Day weekend event.

“If we would have had a week like last week, we would’ve been swamped,” said Cathy Coontz-Griffith, co-owner of Sisterhood of the Mushrooms which sells handcrafted “cottagecore home decor.”

As she tried to beat the heat by drinking water and sitting between two fans on Friday, Coontz-Griffith said attendance had picked up on the second day of the event at the Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley.

Fair board President Jean Smith said they made the decision after Thursday to open at 9:30 a.m. instead of 10 to give people an opportunity to get started before the temperatures climbed too high. Salt Fork, W.Va., resident Karan King was among those getting an earlier start.

“We tried to be here as soon as it opened, especially with as hot as it is today,” she said.

Cedar Lakes dining hall employee Savanna Asbury, left, chats with Athens, Ohio, residents Taunya and Scott Strahan while stirring apple butter on Friday during the Mountain State Art and Craft Festival at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

King said she started coming back to the event after not attending for a while when it moved from its traditional Fourth of July weekend slot.

It’s been back for a few years, coinciding with Ripley’s annual Independence Day festivities and, this year, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Smith said they would be marking the occasion Saturday, but not with anything too out of the ordinary.

“July Fourth’s been our home for a long time,” she said. “We’re sticking to tradition.”

Smith said there were more than 136 juried artisans set up at the fair this year, 75% of them from West Virginia. In addition to people selling their wares, a number of artists provided hands-on demonstrations, including kite-making with folks from the New Era One Room School Living Heritage Museum in Mineral Wells.

On Thursday, “we had kids flying kites all over the grounds,” Smith said.

Charleston resident Kylie Lallemont, right, weaves a basket at a hands-on demonstration table inside an air-conditioned hall Friday during the second day of the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

The hands-on offerings were part of the appeal for Camilla Ruben, who said she’s been coming to the fair for years and enjoys bringing her grandchildren.

“I bring them out every year to do all the fun stuff,” she said.

Athens, Ohio, residents Taunya and Scott Strahan were attending for the first time. They were in the area to visit a flea market when they heard about the fair.

“It’s very neat,” Scott Strahan said. “I could have done with about 20 degrees less heat.”

It was even warmer for Savanna Asbury, with the Cedar Lakes dining hall, who was stirring a pot of hot apple butter on Friday. She said this year’s festival was the hottest in the five years she’s worked there.

Camilla Ruben, right, sits with her grandchildren Mac, left, and Joclare Murphy in front of a large cooling fan Friday at the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

“We keep it going though,” she said.

That includes when there’s rain, which Asbury said always seems to happen on the fair’s last day.

“We’ve got to (keep stirring), or it’ll burn,” she said.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey was there for the start of the fair on Thursday, as he traveled around the state for America 250 activities.

“This festival is a proud West Virginia tradition and the very heart of our state’s handmade heritage,” Morrisey said in a release from his office. “For 64 years, it has served as an educational platform ensuring that traditional Appalachian skills are passed from one generation to the next so they never disappear. Our goal is simple: to ensure that West Virginia’s heritage arts traditions continue thriving for generations to come.”

People inspect the merchandise from Appalachian Glass in Weston on Friday during the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

Morrisey was also scheduled to attend the grand parade on Saturday as part of Ripley’s July Fourth activities, dubbed “the USA’s Largest Small Town Independence Day Celebration.”

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey speaks Thursday at the opening of the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley. (Photo provided)