Funds from a McHenry County nonprofit craft show will help fund mental health agencies.
Mental Health Resource League for McHenry County’s Fall Diddley has taken place for over four decades.
Cheryl Eno, the vice president of the league, said the juried craft show was started by McHenry Hospital physicians' wives in the late 1960s. The hospital is now called Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital.
“As the group grew,” Eno said, “they decided that the mental health needs in McHenry County were significant enough to put their focus on the mental health resources.”
It was first called Fair Diddley. Then around 1986 Fall Diddley was added. So, for a while the league held two craft shows each year.
Fair Diddley took place in the spring but stopped right before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We weren't able to fund enough agencies to make that worthwhile," Eno explained, "so now we just do Fall Diddley."
She said some vendors have taken part for more than 30 years.
“And some of them have followings," she said, "where people line up at the gates on Saturday morning just to make sure they get to that particular crafter's booth, so that they can get first pick of what they have available.”
Net proceeds from ticket sales, vendor fees and other donations will be given to 13 mental health agencies across McHenry County.
The all-volunteer league says, across four decades, they've donated more than $7 million to mental health agencies in the county.
Vendors will sell food, jewelry, clothes, and other hand-crafted items.
The 41st annual Fall Diddley takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12, at the McHenry County Fairgrounds in Woodstock.
