Luckily, the vendors at the Fort Lee Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair this weekend didn't rely on selling their wares for their livelihood.

"This is really just a hobby for me. I have my day job as a doctor. I usually just sell myself online," said Gina Witt of WitchDoc Creations. "This is my first trade show. I thought I'd come out and actually come face-to-face with the public and see if I could sell anything that way. I don't know if we will, but I hope so."

Craft show veterans like Ed Riegal of Dumont are not as hopeful.

"I used to do a lot of the shows. But this year, with the economy being so bad, they seem to all be down," said Reigal.

"We need to raise additional funds, which we knew. We've been doing very well considering the economic climate," said Fort Lee Cultural Affairs Administrator Tom Meyers.

The fees from the fair's table rentals will go toward fundraising for a statue of Thomas Paine statue that will be placed in the borough's Monument Park. Therefore, vendors can write off the fee as a charitable donation.

But vendors also wanted to make some money. As the day went on Saturday, more people seemed to just browse.

"We didn't have anything to do today and we saw it advertised, so we thought it would be something fun to do with the kids," said Rachel Schulman of Fort Lee. "I didn't plan or not plan on buying anything. But we found something."

Some shoppers were drawn to the one-of-a-kind aspect of crafts.

"Well, definitely the uniqueness of the products. You know these are not things that come off an assembly line, so everything you buy is handmade, made by somebody," said Joe Picone of River Edge. "And we found some things here that are good for some of our Christmas-list people."

If more shoppers like Picone come out to the crafts fair this weekend, organizers say they may return next year.