Traveling the world and collecting unique items, duo Nancy Spada and Roger Gee bring one-of-a-kind items back to the U.S. to sell.

Today through Sunday the Community Congressional United Church of Christ (CCUCC) on Campus Street will hold the 15th annual Fair Trade Craft Fair, where locals can buy items from across the globe.

Although the church started the craft fair, about six years ago Idaho locals Spada and Gee took over the yearly event.

Spada, owner and founder of Singing Shaman Traders, a fair-trade craft vendor, traveled to Mata Ortiz, Mexico, back in 2000, where she fell in love with the village and the pottery.

The sale will offer items that people are unlikely to find anywhere else, said Gee, a partner in Singing Shaman Traders and former journalist and professional photographer. Most items cost less than $40, he said.

Spada and Gee import and work with many small producer groups and business, which Spada said is a tremendous amount of work but is rewarding because it impacts lives.

Fair Trade is all about the artisans and keeping the cost down to a reasonable price and building relationships, Gee said. The craft fair is a place where people can buy their gifts for Christmas and other holidays, he said.

“When you walk into the fair, it is very unique. They have everything from children’s books to hand made instruments from Africa,” said Trina Avilez, the CCUCC parish administrator. “It was overwhelming and beautiful.”

As a seasoned volunteer, Avilez does a lot of the office work. Communicating with marketers and advertising for the fair with publications and newsletters well in advance of the sale. She said it’s cool to see all the different cultures and nice to read about the history behind the products. The fair is a way to educate people, while also drawing in the community, she said.

Traveling all around the world to places like Kenya, Vietnam, Mexico, Jamaica, Guatemala and other countries, Spada and Gee buy jewelry, scarves, instruments, wood carvings, toys, and much more. Buying these items is a great way to connect with people and give them a source of income, Gee said.

A lot of places Spada and Gee said they travel are in conjunction with a project, such as their Beads of Color project in which they worked with people near the Guatemala City dump, bought paper beads and combined them with clay beads from Kenya and camel bone beads from India to make jewelry, Spada said.

After about 30 years of being a psychotherapist treating eating disorders, Spada said she was burnt out and decided she wanted to help the rural potters she had met to sell their works.

She and Gee traveled to Mexico three times a year to buy pottery and other items, but now they said they do more importing.

“Sometimes we’re in countries to buy products, other times people approach us to sell their products and we make plans to visit the producers,” Spada said.

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday. The fair is open to everyone and parking is free.