TOWAMENCIN – The North Penn cafeteria is usually lively with students, but last Saturday morning it was buzzing with artists and eager buyers.

For 30 years, the International Friendship Committee has been transforming the high school cafeteria into a classy, beautiful environment to host a Craft Show to benefit the NPHS exchange program.

The International Friendship Committee has been around since 1962 giving students the opportunity to study abroad and to bring students to North Penn to study.

“When we’re able to send kids abroad and change their life for a year, it’s amazing. It’s such a great opportunity for them,” said Ted Knauss, the President of the International Friendship Committee.

In 1985, the International Friendship Committee held the first Craft Show, and it was an instant success.

Ever since, hundreds of buyers wanted the opportunity to be a part of this show. Knauss explained that when crafters come to the committee asking for a spot in the show, they must first go through a jurying process. This provides the opportunity for the group to select a variety of artists in order to keep everything exciting for the customers.

This year, 104 top notch artists from up and down the Eastern seaboard were invited to participate and to sell their crafts to a multitude of buyers.

“The quality of the work here is amazing. I knew it would be a great venue for my work,” said Timothy Neal, a woodworker and vendor at the show. Neal continued on saying that this is one of the better craft shows that he attends throughout the year.

Three of the artists have actually been coming to this particular show since the beginning, including Dan Watt from Eldreth Pottery. He’s been coming to the show all of these years because “I love the people and the guys running the show. Everyone’s so nice in this area and the volunteers are always so willing to help out.”

The show would not have been possible without help from the 50-60 volunteers, including previous NPHS exchange students, current foreign exchange students, and next year’s NPHS exchange students.

Yvonne Pham, a senior at North Penn, was able to study abroad in Toulouse, France last school year, so she became a member of the International Friendship Committee.

Pham commented on the importance of the student volunteers saying that “The craft show is really important to the International Friendship Committee because it funds all of the trips and all of the exchange students that go abroad. They give us full scholarships to go abroad and [the craft show] covers so much of it. That’s why we like to help out because it’s for a great cause to give so many students good opportunities.”

With combined efforts from the International Friendship Committee, the volunteers, and the artists, a truly unique event was able to be put together for all of the customers.

The International Friendship Committee will have two more craft shows coming to North Penn High School on Saturday, November 21^st, 2015 and Saturday, March 19^th, 2016.