Columbia Fire & Iron has been demonstrating at the Interstate Fair for years, many of us first got into blacksmithing after seeing Steve McGrew hammering there near the antique tractors. It is a great opportunity to expose the public to our craft and educate potential blacksmiths that there are resources for learning how to forge. If you are interested in joining us at the fairgrounds this year, please email smith (at) columbiafireandiron.org with your interest and availability to be included in the schedule.

We will probably get enough tickets to bring in 3 smiths each day, but if there is a lot of interest we might be able to score more. A veteran CFI smith will be there everyday for the entire time to manage things. There is free admission to the fair for the demo, but because we demo within the Steam & Gas Buffs area, participating smiths will have to join the S&GB to be covered by their insurance which costs around $30-35 for the year’s membership. That also allows us to use their locked facilities, which is a nice plus, but there is that expense.

Participating smiths can bring their own items to sell as well as sell the things that they make while demoing. We usually forge a lot of nails to hand out to kids, but there are a lot of hours to demo and plenty of time to forge other things, too. If you’re a beginner and want to help demo, nails are a great thing to practice on!

Please email smith (at) columbiafireandiron.org to express interest by September 1.