Service of Craft Fairs
July 6th, 2009
Categories: Appreciation, Customer Service, Retail, Service Personality, Vacation
Berkshires Arts Festival, Mass.
I love going to craft fairs–a brisk round of all the booths, the anticipation of seeing an innovative piece of jewelry, sculpture, pottery, fine art, textile, tee-shirt, jacket or winter coat topped by a stop at hot dog, lemonade or fruit smoothie stand. It can’t be beat.
I remember some of the crafts people I’ve met as others remember meeting sports or movie stars, musicians or politicians. Some of my most whimsical, cheeriest ceramic serving bowls were crafted by one of the grouchiest, surliest women I’ve ever seen. She was an equal opportunity screamer–at her husband, mother and customers alike. Last time I saw her, some eight to 10 years ago, she was pregnant. I felt sorry for the child. It was shop at your peril in her booth, but the bowls remain my favorites. [Maybe customer service takes a back seat when you really want something and the price is right.]
Over the 4th of July weekend, at the Berkshires Arts Festival in Great Barrington, Mass., I saw something new for me: Flowers–hibiscus perhaps–in tropical colors, as large as the surface of a card table, made of basketry. They wouldn’t fit the style of my home–or would they? I can’t get them out of my mind.
One ceramist demonstrated how he shaped a vase on a wheel and another, how he achieved crackle on a bowl. No fancy ovens–he had well-used pots over fire and after he removed the bowl from one pot and poured water on it, he buried it in some mysterious looking natural concoction of blackened wood shavings and other natural elements.
Several glassmakers created remarkable under water-like scenes in pendants to paperweights. A beautiful young woman with a dazzling smile sold romantic, over-the top summer hats decorated with lace and posies in juicy colors. Nobody was in her booth the few times I walked by. Jewelry counters attracted the biggest crowds.
My husband is not a craft fair enthusiast. He gets the same happy, “I’ve been on a vacation for a while” feeling from watching a golf tournament or football game or from hearing an opera well staged and sung. What does it for you?
I went to the Berkshires craft show last year for the first time. The weather was terrible but the crafts were great. I bought a beautiful necklace and my Mom bought a winter fur hat.
I consider myself a crafts aficionado. I enjoy seeing how creative these artists can be with regard to their crafts. Sometimes though, it can be self-indulgent and you end up walking away with something you don’t need but it’s a nice accessory to your life. If you get a chance, it’s worthwhile to also check out the Rhinebeck Crafts Show, http://www.craftsatrhinebeck.com/
I enjoyed the Berkshire craft fair also this time. The sun was out for a change, and I even got a bit of a burn on my arms. Also, the entertainment was great, two old cogers that had grown up on the Lower East Side, or perhaps in Brooklyn, were sitting nearby while I was trying to read. They first talked about how much better schools were in the old days, and that it only cost them a dollar a week to get a good college education — ten cents each way, each day, for the subway to City College, and then they set forth at each other with pitch forks to debate the rights and wrongs of the New Haven fire fighters’ case.
I couldn’t help listening and found it hard to read my book, an excellent and fascinating account of how the Angles and Saxons went about toppling Roman civilization in Fifth Century Britain, and what happened after that as a consequence — a most topical subject for our times. But what made my day was when one of the fair attendants commiserated with me about what a pain in the neck it must be to have to do such dull homework on a weekend.
God bless those old men for actually discussing something important for once. We could all learn a lesson from them.
The Husband
After years of visiting crafts fairs while staying at local bed-and-breakfast establishments, my enthusiasm for both has waned a great deal. See you at “La Traviata,” or on the 9th fairway!
“I’ve been on a vacation for a while”… What does it for you?:
For me it’s walking down a street in Manhattan and noticing
new and older shops, seeing their product mix, signage inside
and out, changes over time, etc.
I construct tours for myself, sometimes taking along my
husband and/or other friends. The purpose it to see parts of
the city I haven’t seen in a while. I’ll have collected articles
and recommendations from friends. It will be places such as
the upper west side, Alphabet City or the many gardens lining
the Hudson at Battery Park City.
The way I enjoy the city I’ve lived in for 42 years is to do
exactly what I do when I vacation in a foreign city. I research
and plan these tours, but there are also times when they
“happen” to me when I leave an appointment and discover
or rediscover a part of the city.
I also love going to all sorts of craft shows, without
leaving the city:
* This June I was at the World of Beads show at FIT
seeing a display of 20 years of extraordinary bead work.
* The Whole Bead Show sells hand made and commercial
beads and findings, Oct. and March.
* Lincoln Center juried craft show was this June but the
fall one has been canceled this year.
* Indian Deepavali at the South Street Seaport in Oct.
has more crafts some years and almost none others.
But the food is always super.
* Norwegian Seaman’s Church, east 52nd St. has a fair
with many crafts made by members toward the end of Nov.
* Community Church, east 35th St. has a crafts fair in early
Dec. It’s one of my favorites. It seems like something out
of a Norman Rockwell painting, small town America of
the 1950s. But I think I’ve bought more at this one than
any other…ornaments and jewelry.
* Also in early Dec., The Society of Scribes has a fair
where there are all sorts of calligraphic crafts for sale and
many demonstrations. It’s usually in the Gramercy Park
area.
* Another in early Dec., The Center for the Book Arts,
west 27th St. Things such as marbled paper, blank books,
greeting cards and decorative boxes.
* Mid-Dec. Handmade in New York, usually in the
West Village. All local crafts people, many paper
related but also fabric and other materials.
* All the holiday fairs in the city have a mixture of items,
sometimes I’ve found an artist doing work I enjoy:
Grand Central, Bryant Park, Union Square, St. Barts,
Columbus Circle.
* And even at the everyday street fairs on the weekend
there are people who will take a table just one time
offering some lovely crafts.