More than 150 juried artisans will fill the grounds of Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens next week as Ohio Mart returns for its nearly 60th year, bringing handcrafted jewelry, ceramics, woodworking, textiles, and fine art to the historic Akron estate from Thursday, October 1 through Sunday, October 4.
The four-day arts and crafts show has become one of the region's most enduring fall traditions, and according to Cleveland.com, this year's event spreads vendors, seasonal food, vintage finds, and family activities across the estate's grounds. Festival admission also includes a self-guided tour of the property's historic manor house, giving shoppers a reason to wander indoors between vendor booths.
The lineup keeps growing each year, too. This year's roster includes more than 30 first-time exhibitors among the 150-plus juried artisans, according to Ohio Magazine. That kind of turnover matters for an event that depends on repeat visitors — new faces in the vendor tents give longtime attendees fresh reasons to come back year after year.
Food Stalls and a Guild-Run Textile Showcase
Hungry visitors will find a mix of regional specialties this year, including The Pierogi Lady, Uncle Bacon's BBQ, Chocolates by Erin, and Pumpkin Roll Shop, alongside Stan Hywet's own signature fresh gingerbread cookies, the outlet's report notes.
Beyond shopping and snacking, the Manor House Auditorium will host the Textile Arts and Artisan Show, organized by the Stan Hywet Needlework Guild. The showcase features live demonstrations of spinning, weaving, embroidery, and rug hooking, folded into standard festival admission at no extra cost.
Juried artisans aren't just there to sell, either — they're competing. The festival's top prize, the $500 Gertrude Seiberling Best in Show Award, is named for the estate's matriarch, an artist and cultural patron who once lived on the property, according to ZAPP, the online application platform used to jury the show.
Hours, Tickets, and Getting There
Ohio Mart runs Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Adult tickets cost $19 and youth tickets cost $10, per the Cleveland.com report; Stan Hywet members receive complimentary tickets by mail and can buy additional adult tickets for $14 and youth tickets for $8. Children ages 2 and younger get in free.
Small carts and wagons are welcome on the grounds, but pets are not permitted during the event. Onsite parking costs $5, cash only, while free offsite parking with shuttle service is available Saturday and Sunday. The estate sits at 714 N. Portage Path in Akron.
A Fundraiser Rooted in Akron's Rubber Industry History
Ohio Mart isn't just a craft fair — it's the primary annual fundraiser for the entire estate. Following the 2024 event, the Stan Hywet Auxiliary Board surpassed $7 million in total funds raised for the property's ongoing restoration and operational maintenance, according to the Stan Hywet Auxiliary Board, a volunteer group originally formed in 1956 to prepare the estate for public tours. Exhibitor sales during the 2025 event topped $1 million for the first time in the show's history, a 16% jump over the prior year, per ZAPP's event data.
The estate itself carries serious architectural weight. Stan Hywet Hall was built between 1912 and 1915 as the private home of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. co-founder F.A. Seiberling and his wife Gertrude, before their heirs donated it as a non-profit historic museum in 1957. The 64,500-square-foot Tudor Revival Manor House is one of the largest private residences ever built in the United States and stands as Akron's oldest National Historic Landmark, according to WKYC.
The estate's unusual name has its own story. Stan Hywet is Old English for stone quarry, a nod to the land's former use before landscape architect Warren Manning reshaped it into a 70-acre country estate. Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens now ranks as the nation's sixth-largest non-profit historic house museum open to the public, with Ohio Mart alone drawing an average of 15,000 to 17,000 visitors each year, according to ZAPP's event listing.
