Heritage Celebration 2013

Saturday was a rainy, overcast day here on the VA Eastern Shore — perfect weather for an indoor arts and crafts festival.

Following our custom of the past several years, we participated in the Heritage Celebration held at the local community college. This annual events features the talents of local artists, crafts people, and musicians. It also includes speakers and performances and exhibits from various community groups. It’s a “freebie” for participating artists and the attending public — except, of course, when they buy from the artists, which we all hope they will.

Luckily, we were set up side-by-side in the same room. Grenville’s talents (one of many and I speak unbiased, of course) is wood turning; his former business was Wood N Thingz. My passion is photography (no surprise); my former photo card business was  OnleyImages (pronounced “only”).

Since we are planning to relocate (once the Frog & PenguINN is sold) OUR goal was to slash costs on remaining inventory. We did NOT want to pack it. Making some sales would also be a very good thing.Happily, we accomplished BOTH goals! Grenville had a very successful day selling his wood turnings inventory. He really does beautiful work — another unbiased opinion.  But, lots of others who purchased his turnings agreed; here’s a few examples:

The two items on the right can be used to drill a planting hole; the markings are in half-inch increments. The center photo are wine stoppers, if one doesn’t finish the entire bottle (do folks not do that?). The last item is a whimsical thingamajig, possibly a tree-topper for a (very) small tree. Bowls from large to small, and candle holders were also popular items.

Grenville set a one-price, your choice policy and it worked great. These pieces sold quickly.

I reduced prices on my photo card inventory and nearly sold out. Our mutual decision to cut prices was the best way to sell more as everyone likes a bargain. When anyone told me that my prices were SO low, I offered to take more $,but never got more . . . go figure.

This event is always a good time to catch up with lots of other talented folks. Out artist friend, Marty and hubby Robert were in the same room. Here’s some of her work:

Also sharing the rooms was a carver friend, Ed, whose colorful fish and beautiful swans are always popular.

Last year, there was a display of circuit board art, and it was there again. The baby is still in uterus, but this year “mom” had a new pony tail hairdo.Despite the weather, this was a wonderful and well-attended local event and a good way to spend a rainy Saturday; today it’s sunny.

Heritage Celebration 2012

Not that we expect everyone to remember, but once again this past weekend, Eastern Shore Community College hosted its annual Heritage Celebration to showcase local arts and crafts. We’ve participated the past 3 years, Grenville with wood turning and myself with photography as shown in the above collages.

What’s unique about this event is that it’s not only free for local artisans  but coffee, donuts and lunch are also gratis to participants. Artists are invited to sell their wares too. Last year, Grenville lamented about having no sales. This year, he nearly sold all his remaining inventory (shown here) which made him very happy.

We know many folks in the local arts/crafts community from participating in local shows in past years. It’s always good to see their work; there are many talented folks on the VA eastern shore. Here are some examples of local talent.

Bee keeping was one of the most popular displays – complete with live bees and honey sampling – it was delicious.

Heritage Festival 2011

You might remember last year about this time we took you to the Eastern Shore Heritage Festival. Well hold onto your straw hats ‘cause we’re going again.

Two of the best things about this festival is ONE- it is free for artists, and TWO- lunch is free. Now if you want to really snag all the starving artists in your neighborhood i just gave you the perfect bait combo.

Of course the most important artists there were ,,,, well US of course!!!!!

Even though i didn’t sell anything, Beatrice sold some of her photos. Truth be told this was not a buying crowd. But being the first show of the year for most of us it serves as a sort of reunion and ‘catch-up’ day. You get to hear what others did for the holidays, see what new works they have, and hear what shows they will be doing.

The Heritage Festival is held by and at our local Community College. For many of the local folks this is the only time they set foot on the campus other than to complain about their tax dollars being wasted. BUT I'll save that RANT for another day.

As with most artist in a small community, we all know each other. And when a new artist joins in, even if they work in the same basic medium as others they are always welcomed. And what would a festival be without some local entertainment. Here on the Eastern Shore Gospel groups are popular, as are country, blues  and bluegrass groups.

And in case you don’t know, here on the Shore “Everything looks better in Green”. John Deere Green that is. This year the Peninsula Tractor Organization again brought beautifully restored antique JD Tractors. They were also grinding corn and making ice cream powered with single cylinder “hit or miss” engines. Some of these engines and machinery are well over 100 years old and still run like tops. No, i didn’t get any of the ice cream. Actually i ended up gaining a few pounds yesterday. Of course it had nothing to do with the Key Lime Pie that Klick and Klack brought over for desert. Now the left overs of Beatrice's ‘Famous Cheesecake’ that she brought home from this afternoons book swap may be a problem that will be measured in inches.