The exhibition "Craft BAR" was held on December 16th at Itaruyanagi Multipurpose Hall "Aplu" (Hainuma Iwai, Itanayanagi-cho, Kitatsugaru-gun).

This exhibition is designed to have you see a craft work while drinking a cocktail. At the first event, Seiya Sato, the representative of the "Itayanagi Geotechnical Planning" group organized by local residents, proposed the idea. Mr. Sato said, "I have always felt that there are many ordinary people in the local area who do high-level handicraft work. I want to create opportunities for them to show their works and start more businesses to help revitalize the region."

Mr. Sato ran the bar "Hijiri" (Matsuji Tsuji, Itayanagi-cho, Kitatsugaru-gun) in Itayanagi and participated as a bartender on the day. “We looked at the venue like a bar and gave cocktail lectures and explanations on alcoholic drinks. Fusion of bars and craft fairs is rare in Japan,” says Sato.

According to Mr. Sato, there were initially 15 sets planned to be exhibited, but there were no applicants. “We were waiting for the local people to give priority to the general public. When the deadline was tenacious, the local exhibitors arrived at the end. I was not confident that I could be myself or not, but I am in my 60s. There were also exhibitors of ".

The number of visitors on the day announced by the organizer is more than 1,000. It was crowded with workshops such as leather work production and shimenawa dream catcher making, as well as people deciding craft works. Mr. Sato smiles, "Visitors said, "I want to try it myself," "I had a lot of new works that I didn't know," and people who opened the store said "I'm making new works."