Hours:
Wednesday & Thursday: 10AM - 6PM
Friday: 10AM - 8PM
Saturday: 10AM - 5PM
For over 50 years, the small town of Fairfield, Pennsylvania has been at the forefront of the fair trade movement. Long before socially responsible businesses were popular, or the label fair trade was ever stamped on a box, visitors to the Ten Thousand Villages Gift Festival and Oriental Rug Event in Fairfield have b
een empowering artisans. The global fair trade movement began with the founding of Ten Thousand Villages more than 65 years ago through the visionary work of Edna Ruth Byler, a pioneering businesswoman. Byler was struck by the overwhelming poverty she witnessed during a trip to Puerto Rico in 1946, where she was moved to take action. The seminal contribution of Byler ignited a global movement to eradicate poverty through market-based solutions. Byler believed that she could provide sustainable economic opportunities for artisans in developing countries by creating a viable marketplace for their products in North America. She began a grassroots campaign among her family and friends in the United States by selling handcrafted products out of the trunk of her car. Before long, Byler expanded from her car, and in 1961, through the help of Fairfield Mennonite churchgoer, Ruth Musselman, and a ladies group from her church, the Gift Festival in Fairfield was born. Since that first year the members of Fairfield Mennonite Church and volunteers from the surrounding community have worked together to continue the sale, carrying on the work of Byler, Musselman, and countless others to support artisans around the world. This year (2022), the festival will be moving location from the Fairfield Mennonite Church to the YWCA in Gettysburg. We hope that the hard work and dedication of the Fairfield church will be continued in our new space and you will all join us to continue the legacy that has been built!
