The downtown business district was filled with vendors and browsers and shoppers Saturday for the 47th annual Hillsboro Arts & Crafts Fair. The day began in a blanket of fog, but by mid-morning it turned into a bright, clear and sunny day that drew another large crowd. Hillsboro Police Chief Dan Kinning and his officers estimated the turnout may have been slightly lower than some years, but still attracted around 35,000 people to the community. Kinning said local emergency-response personnel had a pretty good day, too. “I think we had a couple of minor accidents and we had some lost property that we were able to reunite people with—a couple of cellphones, an iPod and things like that, Kinning said. “And I think we had the usual parking complaints.” EMS responded to a few non-emergency calls. Kinning said he and other responders appreciate the tradition of safety during the event dubbed the “The Midwestern Creative Arts Market” by the Hillsboro Arts & Crafts Association. “We don’t know from year to year what is going to happen, but fairly consistently we don’t have a lot of problems,” he said. “If it was much hotter, we may have had some heat-related issues.”
