An Affair of the Heart is this weekend at State Fair Park in Oklahoma City

It's about more than shopping, attendees say. It's a social event with girlfriends, sisters, mothers and daughters.

“We just go to come out and get away from work, kids and husbands,” said Nicole Johnson, of Prosper, Texas. She timed a visit to her mother, Diane Johndrow, of Edmond, to coincide with the show.

An Affair of the Heart was first held in February 1985, organized by eight local women wanting a place to sell their crafts.

That show was held in State Fair Park's Hobbies, Arts and Crafts Building. Now it is one of seven buildings used.

Sixty-five exhibitors participated in 1985; today, there's upward of 700.

Admission was $3 the first year, and the event was one day. Now, it is a weekend-long event held four times a year: in Oklahoma City in February and October, and in Tulsa in July and November.