Fair of the Arts provides forum for local talent

Beside the Farmers' Market's ripe produce and in the shadow of the towering construction across the street, Saturday's Fair of the Arts claimed about 20 vendor tables. \nAt 401 N. Morton St. in front of City Hall, old veterans and newbies alike came to show off their creative skills in an effort to delight the local spectator into a sale. Held every second Saturday of the month May through October during the Farmers' Market, the arts and crafts show is in its fifth year.\nOriginally the show was held after the Farmers' Market. However, attendance was low because people who would come for the vegetables and fruit had no intention to stay longer and browse the arts and crafts booths.\n"It was terrible," said Debbie Cohen, a vendor who has sold jewelry in the event since its beginning, and now sells flowers pressed in paper. "(Organizers) felt it would be too much congestion to have it at the same time (as the Farmers' Market), but of course nobody came. It was terrible, and anyway, gradually they've gotten better each year."\nCohen, a social worker, said she began making the semi-precious jewelry about 20 years ago when she had just finished school and didn't have as much money for expensive accessories. Once she started making the ornaments, they became popular with her friends and family. That gave her the encouragement she needed to sell her creations.\n"The craft community has been really pleased because the Fourth Street Festival is for really high-end things, and so a lot of the local people couldn't get in," she said. "So when this opened, it was great because it gave local people a venue to just show off their stuff."\nLeslie Kaiser, the Community Events Coordinator for the Parks and Recreation in Bloomington, said about 700 to 900 people peruse the offerings of various vendors at the event. \n"The market's become more of a hangout or a social scene, rather than just coming here to buy your tomatoes," Kaiser said. "People hang out and listen to music, and so it's just supplementing that."\nDavid and Cheryl Lehman have been making soap for eight years, since Cheryl's mother, who has psoriasis, complained to them that she couldn't find a bar of soap that didn't exacerbate her condition. Cheryl did some research into soap making, and the two formulated the honey milk oatmeal bar. Their business was born. Vendors since the fair's beginning, they now have 13 varieties for people and four for pets, which are sold all over Indiana and in a few stores in Illinois.\n"We actually still have people who don't know that this happens," David Lehman said. "There's still people that show up and didn't realize what fun they were going to run into and they were glad it was here."\nFor Sandee Milhouse this is only her second time as a vendor, and her first time at the Fair of the Arts.\n"Everybody is so nice," she said. "Everybody comes up and says 'Hi' and 'I love how their faces light up when the see the sparkly stuff.'"\nMilhouse has sold an assortment of sewn products, but the things that really catch the bystanders' eyes are the fabric princess crowns and the fluffy pile of tutus in assorted colors, she said. \n"My daughter likes to dress up and I've always been kind of a princess at heart and love crowns and anything that sparkles or is shiny, so I decided to do it," she said. "And as much as my daughter loves it, I figured there are a lot of little girls out there that would enjoy dressing up."\nAnd that's probably true because Milhouse said she may run out of merchandise before the event is over. \nWhile people perused the fair, Julie Roberts sat under an umbrella as a seasoned Henna pro. Six years ago, her experience with the traditional Indian art form started with a kit.\n"The Farmers' Market is the happy place, you go here and get happy," the veteran vendor said. "It doesn't matter what's going on in your life, you can just spend the whole morning here. Everybody I know is here."\nThe last Fair of the Arts for the season will be held Oct. 13.\n-- Contact Arts editor Joelle Petrus at jpetrus@indiana.edu.