One of the great things about Cleveland is the entire summer festival season. Street fairs and art fairs are going on all the time in nearly every neighborhood. There are so many that it becomes nearly impossible to make it to all of them! I jsut thought I would wet your appetite for the season by posting some pictures of a couple of them that happened this past week. We went to the Coventry Street Fair and the Clifton Arts Festival. Both were great, but I was especially pleased to see so many vendors at the Coventry Street Fair that were working with recycled materials, found objects and selling local foods.
Some of my favorites included
Urban Artifaks: a jewelry designer who uses recycled glass from liquor bottles to made her creations. I love this idea, as I have always appreciated the beauty of some of the bottles that are created for the likes of Belvedere and Grey Goose. Now you can take that beauty with you wherever you go.
10,000 Villages: an online and brick and mortar store that features fair trade products in the US. Locally, they have a shop downtown near CSU.
Ten Thousand Villages comprises a global network of social entrepreneurs who strive to improve the livelihood of disadvantaged artisans by building a market for handmade products in North America. We provide a vital link to U.S. consumers for artisan partners who often lack access to markets.
There was also this interesting designer who made products from all sorts of materials. She made little boxes form old computer discs, jewelry from bottle caps and bowls from old records….
10,000 Villages
Urban Artifaks glass jewelry designs
LP bowls and bottlecap jewlery
Of course there was plenty of food, music, dancing and street performance.
This weekend was also the Clifton Arts Festival. This festival never fails to deliver interesting art, lively music, good crowds and a lot of fun! I especially liked the Metroparks truck that enticed visitors to come and explore the beauty of the Metroparks in the hopes that they will see what fun there is to be had. I also enjoyed taking in the garden glass booth that featured garden decor made from old wine bottles. Did you know that an upturned wine bottle makes the perfect watering hole for butterflies?
And to think, the season has just begun! Yeah, Cleveland DOES rock.
see more pictures from Coventry Street Fair from Heidi Cool on Flickr.
