Local residents and others who love crafting have been gathering twice a year in Minot since 1975 for The Big One Art and Craft Fair, which shows and sells the products of their labor and creativity. It is still going strong 49 years after its inception by sisters Lois Allen and Carol Waldref.

Allen and Waldref spent many years crafting, making items from yarn, fabric and other materials to give to friends and family members as gifts. They were creating faster than they were giving the pieces away, so they ended up with an excess of finished products.

Instead of letting them sit in storage, they decided to talk with other crafters about potentially hosting a craft show where they could sell their art.

The first Big One Art and Craft Fair took place around Christmas in 1975, and the first fall show in Fargo was put on in 1988, with the Minot spring show following in 1991. The sisters had the business for more than 20 years before they decided they wanted to try to retire in 2005.

The first call on their list was to a news station in Minot, where Stacy Frank worked as a manager. The station handled an agriculture expo at the North Dakota State Fairgrounds, so they thought the station may have some interest.

The new owners of the station showed no interest in buying the business, but Frank told his wife, Lisa, he thought it would be a good business opportunity.

They went to get a business loan to purchase the business from Allen and Waldref, but they did not get the answer they were looking for.

“We were denied everything because there was no collateral. You’re buying a database and a concept,” Lisa Frank said.

About a year later, Allen and Waldref reached out to the Franks to let them know no one was going to be able to get a business loan without collateral. Instead, the sisters worked out an arrangement with the couple, with the same interest rate that would have been found at a bank, and the payments were made directly to the sisters.

After three years of seeing the show grow and thrive, the Franks added a craft show in Mandan. The show moved to the Bismarck Event Center in 2010.

Between 2006 and 2014, Lisa Frank said, they were lucky if they had a total attendance count of 4,000 guests throughout the three-day Fargo Fall Show. Due to the location downtown, parking was a major problem, congested with cars and pedestrians. without enough space for more guests to park. In 2015, the show moved to the Fargodome, which had room for 327 booths.

After switching venues to the dome, the Franks saw a large increase in attendance with the extra parking available.

At the fall show in Minot, there is room for about 380 in the State Fair Center. The space allotted in the spring is decreased to 310.

At the Bismarck Event Center, 280 vendors are able to fit comfortably.

For each show, the owners limit the number of vendors who sell the same craft. Lisa Frank said they turn away between 10 to 20 vendors who make tumbler cups because the cups are so commonly made.

The variety of creativity at the craft shows is beginning to dwindle, with some art forms becoming common and mainstream while crafts such as sewing, woodworking, welding and other more traditional hobbies becoming more rare.

Recently, the Franks were approached by individuals in Watford City who would like to bring in a craft show, but they are not yet sure if they can make it work. They have until October to make a decision.

“We’re still teetering back and forth,” Lisa Frank said.