Arts and craft festival draws a crowd to downtown Wilmore
Published 10:00 am Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Crispy leaves crinkled under visitors’ feet on their way to Wilmore’s Main Street for the 24th Annual Arts and Crafts Festival last Saturday.
According to attendees and vendors alike, the festival was a success as the streets were lined with dozens of vendors, and festivalgoers filled the space between the vendors to the brim, much like a heavily populated metropolitan area.
Sally Satterwhite said it’s always this busy.
Satterwhite is a Jessamine County artist. She had her booth at the festival filled with paintings of flowers, pumpkins, and more. She’s been painting for about five or six years; this was her third year at the festival. She said out of all the festivals, this is the best one she sells at.
“(This festival) has the most traffic, it’s the most well-organized, and I make the most money here. This is a great festival, it is. And we’re fortunate that the weather held out. We were really worried about rain and wind,” Satterwhite said.
Vendors sold baby clothes, jewelry, honey, jams, art, fiber goods and more.
One of the fiber goods vendors has been honing her craft for about 40 years.
Mary Barlow does three shows a year selling her wares, and this festival is her last one for the year.
When she began working at Shaker Village, Barlow started weaving baskets, blankets, and other fiber goods. She worked at the village for 20 years and has found a new historic home.
“Now I’m at Fort Harrod. I’ve been there now for about 20 years,” Barlow said, standing behind a rack of her rugs adjacent to her hanging onion baskets.
Barlow has been selling at the Wilmore festival for years and
A sneak peak behind the scenes of a gruesomely glamorous fashion show.
SUPERIOR, Wis.–“We wanted to gather artists of all kinds and all facets and bring them together. And we thought bringing them all together would make for a really special, unique experience,” said Cherry Koch, a local artist.
A show of hauntings and scares awaits those who attend the Main Club in Superior this Friday night.
June was Koch’s last fashion show and her team of models have had Halloween on their mind since.
“One of the most special things about Halloween is that you can transform into this whole new, amazing character. We’re really inspired by that and we want to take Halloween costumes to the next level and just show off some amazing DIY craftsmanship and celebrate all of the quirky local artists that we have here in town,” said Koch.
The fashion show looks to highlight local creatives. With music by the NVR TGTHR and Sadkin, who is celebrating a new album release.
“I think part of Sadkin always had an element of theater to it. And that presentation was key and integral to what we’re doing,” said Max Mileski, Singer and Guitarist from Sadkin. “I think our sound is art pop, I think it recalls music from former decades, whenever it was mid to late 70s, early to late 80s. But we are definitely tinkering with genres, alternative music genres, like new romantic, sophisti pop, and art pop.”
Between the dolls, artwork, and music; the stage is being set for a haunting, bizarre, and uniquely fashionable performance. All dressed up in time for Halloween at the Doll Haus.
Doors open at 8 p.m. and the runway struts at 9 p.m. Admission is only $15 and in addition there’s a visual art gallery with