The Longwood Arts & Crafts Festival has been a staple in the town for decades. It began as a fundraiser for the Longwood Historic Society (then called the Central Florida Society for Historic Preservation) in 1977.
The first event was held on December 3-4, 1977 during the afternoon on both days. Besides the art vendors there were food booths and music performers. It was a huge success!
The historic society continued the event as its primary fundraiser for the next 40 years. It was a lot of work! The festival committee worked on it almost year-round, using a second-floor office in the Bradlee-McIntyre House as their base of operations.
In 2017, the City of Longwood came to the society and asked to take over the administration of the show. The Longwood Historic Society agreed to the city’s terms, given that royalty would continue to be paid. Free from the administrative effort of running the show, the Society started putting on other events such as the Longwood Monster Dash 5K in 2018.
Here is a link to the current Longwood Arts & Crafts Festival information.
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