When the League of NH Craftsmen kicks off its annual fair in Newbury, N.H., this weekend, it’ll be doing so without its board chair and four other board members.

Those five people — representing half of the organization’s 10-member board — resigned in July, according to an email sent to league members earlier this week. In that email, the organization said the resignations were “unrelated” to the fair. That event, in its 91st year, typically draws hundreds of artisans and thousands of visitors to Mount Sunapee Resort each summer.

“You may wonder, if the resignations weren’t related to the Fair, what happened? The simplest explanation is this: a solvable problem came to the Board and ED’s attention,” the email reads. “There was disagreement about how to address the issue and five members ultimately chose to resign.”

Miriam Carter, the organization’s executive director, declined to provide additional information. NHPR also attempted to contact former board members via phone but did not hear back by the time of publication.

Zack Jonas, a bladesmith who previously served as vice chair, is the new board chair, per the organization’s bylaws. He said the conflict arose during a closed board meeting and he could not share more details.

"There was a small issue and it could have been resolved very quickly, but there was just a misunderstanding, and instead it kind of just was turned into a larger issue,” He said. “And then ultimately, upon clearing that up, a few members chose to resign because they just didn't feel like they wanted to serve on the board any longer."

Jonas said the board has selected two new members and is the process of interviewing additional candidates.

The League of NH Craftsmen is an NHPR underwriter, but we report on them as we do any other organization and they had no influence over this story.

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