Craighead County Arkansas Lit’l Bit of Christmas Festival
Every November, as the holiday shopping season begins, one of the largest arts and crafts shows in the Mid-South takes over First National Bank Arena on the campus of Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. The show draws over 10,000 people and packs the arena floor with over 200 arts and craft vendors, turning a college basketball venue into a sprawling indoor marketplace of handmade gifts, decorations and seasonal treats. For many families in Craighead County and across the region, a trip to this show is the unofficial starting gun for Christmas — the moment the hunt for something genuinely handmade begins.
One point of naming deserves clearing up right away. Although this article carries the festival title in the form used by the queue it was commissioned from, the organiser’s own name for the show is “Lit’l Bita Christmas.” Arkansas State University’s athletics site also styles it the “Lit’l Bita Christmas Arts & Crafts Show.” That is the name to search for and the name regulars use. The event is the same whichever spelling brought you here: a giant November craft show in Jonesboro raising money to help fund scholarships for student-athletes at Arkansas State University.
About the Festival
Lit’l Bita Christmas is an Arkansas State University athletics event, and that identity shapes everything about it. This is not a commercial craft fair run by an outside promoter; it is a fundraiser woven into the life of the university. Proceeds help the Red Wolves Foundation offset the cost of student-athlete scholarships, so every ticket bought and every booth rented feeds directly into the education of the university’s athletes. The university supports over 375 student-athletes and provides over two million dollars a year in tuition, room and board, books and fees. A show on this scale makes a real contribution to that bill.
The setting matters, too. First National Bank Arena gives the show something most craft fairs can only dream of: a huge, weatherproof indoor floor in November. Jonesboro weather at that time of year can turn cold and wet without much warning, but inside the arena the aisles stay warm, dry and brightly lit from open to close. Vendors can spread out proper displays rather than huddling under canopies, and shoppers can take their time instead of racing the rain.
The host city is Jonesboro, the larger of Craighead County’s two county seats: Jonesboro serves the western district, while Lake City serves the eastern district. The show belongs firmly to Jonesboro and the university campus — it has never been a Lake City event — and it pulls shoppers from well beyond Arkansas.
For a useful comparison, see the Wilcox County Alabama Gee’s Bend Airing of Quilts Festival for another county festival.
Quick Facts
| Fact | Detail |
| Official name | Lit’l Bita Christmas |
| Also styled | Lit’l Bita Christmas Arts & Crafts Show |
| Venue | First National Bank Arena, Arkansas State University campus |
| Host city | Jonesboro, Arkansas |
| County | Craighead County |
| Timing | Each November; the 2025 edition ran November 7–9 |
| Attendance | Over 10,000 people |
| Vendors | Over 200 arts and craft vendors |
| Organiser | Arkansas State University athletics (A-State Athletics) |
| Beneficiary | Red Wolves Foundation, for student-athlete scholarships |
History
The university tells the show’s origin story in a single sentence: “It all began in 1987 as a way to help fund the scholarship athletes at A-State.” That founding account, exactly as Arkansas State University gives it, explains the show’s character from the very start. It was not dreamed up as a retail venture and later given a charitable gloss; the charity was the point from day one, and the shopping was the engine chosen to power it.
From that 1987 beginning, the show grew into a fixed point on the regional calendar. The university billed the 2025 edition as “our 39th year of the show” — nearly four decades of Novembers, of shoppers who first came as children now bringing children of their own. A November 2023 layer of university news called that year’s edition “the 37th Annual Lit’l Bita Christmas,” consistent with the 2025 billing; both figures are the university’s own, recorded here as published.
Longevity like that does not happen by accident. Craft shows live or die on trust: vendors trust that crowds will come, and crowds trust that the quality will justify the trip. A show anchored to a university and a cause local people care about has had decades to build both kinds of trust in depth.
What to Expect
Expect scale, first of all. Over 200 arts and craft vendors is a great many booths, and the arena floor at full stretch is a sight in itself: row after row of handmade work, from Christmas decorations and wreaths to jewellery, woodwork, textiles, candles, artwork and seasonal food gifts. The emphasis is on arts and crafts rather than mass-produced merchandise, which is precisely the draw. Shoppers come for presents they cannot find in a mall — things sold by the person who made them, with the story of the making thrown in for free.
Expect crowds to match. Over 10,000 people attend across the show’s run, so the aisles at peak times are busy and popular booths gather knots of browsers. That bustle is part of the atmosphere — this is a social occasion as much as a shopping trip. If you prefer a calmer browse, the edges of the day tend to be kinder than the middle, and a second circuit almost always reveals things you walked straight past the first time.
Expect, too, to pay without cash at the venue level. Reporting from September 2025 confirms that First National Bank Arena is fully cashless. Individual vendors, however, may still accept cash at their own booths — come prepared for both.
Above all, expect the festive mood to be genuine: a Christmas show in a building full of people who know their purchases support student scholarships generates a warmth that has little to do with the heating system.
Planning Your Visit
The most important planning step is the simplest: confirm the current year’s dates through the arena’s and the university’s own channels before you travel. The show is held each November, and the 2025 edition ran from November 7 to November 9. A date of November 20–22, 2026 has appeared in craft-listing layers, but it has not been verified from a university source, so treat it strictly as an unverified listing and let the official announcement settle your diary.
Admission deserves the same caution. No official admission figure was published in the sources behind this article, and figures quoted in third-party craft listings should not be taken as fact. Check the arena’s event listing for the confirmed door price before you set out — and remember that the proceeds support Red Wolves Foundation scholarship funding, which makes the entry fee one of the more satisfying purchases of the season.
Plan your payment methods around the cashless arena policy described above: a card as your primary means of paying, plus some cash as backup for individual vendors who still take it. If you are buying fragile items — ceramics, glass, framed pieces — a sturdy tote beats juggling purchases in your arms, and leaving a bag in the car for a mid-visit drop-off is a veteran move at a show with this many booths.
Finally, give the show time. Regulars treat it as at least a half-day outing: a full first circuit to survey everything, a pause to shortlist, then a second circuit to buy. That rhythm is the difference between coming home with the right gifts and wishing you had gone back for the one that got away.
A Sample Day at the Show
A relaxed Saturday at the show might unfold like this. Arrive in the morning and use the first hour for a full circuit of the floor with no buying allowed — reconnaissance only. Note the booths that stop you in your tracks and the prices of anything you are comparing between vendors.
Late morning is prime buying time: return to your shortlisted booths, make the purchases you are sure about, and chat with the makers about their work. Around midday, review your purchases against your gift list and identify the gaps — the uncle who is impossible to buy for, the teacher gifts, the stocking fillers still missing.
In the afternoon, make a final circuit with the gap list in hand; unusual items surface now, because you are looking with specific people in mind. Head home with Christmas shopping genuinely well advanced — in November, indoors, with a good cause attached.
How the Show Compares
Against a traditional outdoor county fair, the contrasts are mostly in this show’s favour at this time of year. An outdoor fair is at the mercy of November weather; this show is not. An outdoor fair spreads its attractions across a fairground; this show concentrates over 200 vendors under one roof. And where a county fair’s craft barns are one element among many — livestock, rides, grandstand events — here the arts and crafts are the entire point, giving a depth of choice a general fair cannot match for a dedicated gift-hunter.
Against ordinary Christmas shopping, the difference is the merchandise itself. Department stores and online giants offer the same products everywhere; a floor of independent makers offers things that exist in small numbers and cannot be reordered once they are gone. There is also where the money goes: the proceeds help fund scholarships for over 375 student-athletes, giving a morning’s shopping a quieter second return no checkout discount can equal.
The trade-offs run the other way on convenience: you cannot shop this show from your sofa, the crowds are real, and once the November weekend ends, the opportunity is gone for another year. For most of the 10,000-plus people who attend, that is what makes it an occasion rather than an errand.
Your Show-Day Checklist
- Confirm this year’s dates and door price on the arena’s or university’s own channels before travelling
- Bring a debit or credit card — the arena is fully cashless
- Carry some cash as backup for individual vendors who still accept it
- Pack sturdy tote bags for carrying purchases
- Write a gift list with names and budgets before you arrive
- Plan at least half a day; over 200 booths cannot be done justice in an hour
- Make a no-buying first circuit, then a second circuit to purchase
- Leave a spare bag in the car for a mid-visit drop-off
- Decide in advance how to carry fragile items such as ceramics and glass
- Note favourite makers’ booth positions for next year
Beyond the Festival
A trip to the show easily anchors a wider Jonesboro day out; the university campus itself rewards a wander before or after your arena session. Jonesboro, as the western district’s county seat and one of two seats of Craighead County, is the commercial and civic hub for a wide rural hinterland, so the show weekend fills the city’s restaurants and shops with the same crowds that fill the arena.
The show is unambiguously a Jonesboro occasion, but its crowds come from both of the county’s districts and far beyond, making the weekend a small annual reunion for the whole county as well as a fundraiser.
Why This Show Matters
Plenty of craft fairs are pleasant. Fewer are load-bearing. This show has carried part of the cost of student-athlete scholarships at Arkansas State University since 1987, within a system supporting over 375 student-athletes and providing over two million dollars a year in tuition, room and board, books and fees. The Red Wolves Foundation’s work is helped, year after year, by a November weekend of wreaths, woodwork and handmade jewellery — an unlikely funding mechanism that has proved remarkably durable.
The show matters culturally as well: it is one of the largest arts and crafts gatherings in the Mid-South, a regional stage on which independent makers can reach over 10,000 customers in a single weekend — a floor that can define a small craft business’s year. And for Jonesboro, the 39th year of the show, as the university billed 2025, marks a tradition spanning generations of the same families on both sides of the booth counter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the show’s real name spelled differently from this article’s title?
Because the organiser’s own name for the event is “Lit’l Bita Christmas,” as published on Arkansas State University’s athletics site, which also styles it the “Lit’l Bita Christmas Arts & Crafts Show.” Use the university’s form when searching for dates, tickets and arena information.
Which part of Craighead County actually hosts the show?
Jonesboro hosts it, at First National Bank Arena on the Arkansas State University campus. Craighead County has two county seats — Jonesboro for the western district, Lake City for the eastern — and the show is entirely a Jonesboro event.
Can visitors pay with cash inside the arena?
The arena itself is fully cashless, as confirmed in September 2025 reporting, so expect to pay by card for arena-run purchases. Individual vendors are a separate matter: some stallholders may still accept cash, so carrying a modest amount covers both possibilities.
Where does the money raised by the show actually go?
The show is an Arkansas State University athletics event whose proceeds help the Red Wolves Foundation offset the cost of student-athlete scholarships. The university supports over 375 student-athletes and provides over two million dollars a year in tuition, room and board, books and fees; this November show has contributed to that effort since 1987.
What to Expect From the Next Craighead County Arkansas Lit’l Bit of Christmas Festival
How often is Craighead County Arkansas Lit’l Bit of Christmas Festival held?
The show is an annual fixture, held each November at First National Bank Arena in Jonesboro. The 2025 edition, billed by the university as its 39th year, ran from November 7 to November 9, continuing a run that began in 1987.
When is the next Craighead County Arkansas Lit’l Bit of Christmas Festival?
The next edition is expected in November, in line with the show’s established pattern, but its exact dates should be taken only from the university or the arena once officially announced. A November 20–22, 2026 date circulates in craft listings; it is unverified by any university source and should not be treated as confirmed.
Will the dates change?
The November timing is deeply established after nearly four decades, so a move away from that month would be a genuine surprise. The exact weekend, however, is set year by year — which is why checking the official announcement matters more than relying on listings.
When the arena doors open next November, the scene will look much as it has for decades: over 200 makers, over 10,000 visitors, and a cause quietly underwriting the whole enterprise. Few Christmas traditions are this enjoyable and this useful at the same time. If you go, go early, bring a list, and leave room in the car — this show has a long-established habit of filling it.
