Los Alamos Arts Council to host Spring Arts and Crafts Fair May 9

More than 100 vendors filled the lawn east of Fuller Lodge on Saturday, turning the Los Alamos Arts Council’s Spring Arts and Crafts Fair into a busy downtown stop for shoppers looking ahead to Mother’s Day, graduations and early-summer gifts.

The fair ran from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the historic Fuller Lodge site and brought in artists and makers from across New Mexico. The mix included returning favorites and new sellers, with tables offering handmade art, food, cosmetics, jewelry, clothing, decor and woodworking. The event was free and family-friendly, a formula that has helped keep it a steady draw for local households and visitors alike.

For downtown Los Alamos, the fair mattered as more than a single weekend market. It funneled people into the arts and cultural district at a time when many were already shopping for seasonal gifts, and it gave regional makers a direct sales channel that depends on in-person traffic. The Los Alamos Arts Council has promoted community engagement in the arts since 1967, and the fair remains one of its most visible ways of doing that work in public.

The organization now includes the Fuller Lodge Art Center, which has hosted artists, exhibits and programs since 1997. That longer arts presence is part of what gives the fair its weight in Los Alamos: it is not just a craft market, but a yearly reminder that Fuller Lodge still anchors a local creative economy as much as it anchors the town’s history.

The fair also came with added shopping hours at the gallery shop. The shop was open Wednesday from noon to 5 p.m., by appointment only Thursday, Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with Los Alamos Arts Council members receiving 5 percent off all items during the week of the fair. Older coverage had already marked the Spring Arts and Crafts Fair as a long-standing Los Alamos tradition, and the event celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025. In a town where many weekend outings compete with bigger obligations, the fair again proved that a local arts event can still move people, money and attention into the center of downtown.