Here I’ll confess I’ve saved my favorite parts of the Market Square Art Fair for last. I enjoy the arts and the crafts and I really enjoyed this year’s concept of having the artists creating during the festival. There were several artists we wished we could buy from, but we only wound up taking home pottery from one person.
I wish I’d gotten a photograph of him, but Charles Akin of Ridge Pottery from Franklin does excellent work and it is extremely reasonably priced. I’d link his website, but as far as I can tell, he doesn’t have one. We bought several items for gifts (and one for ourselves) and couldn’t believe his prices. It’s the only thing he’s ever done and he says he doesn’t need to get rich.
I also happened upon Lisa Duncan and Karen Noggle as they were handing out awards. You can see the full list here. Bradley Wilson received a merit award for his great acrylic paintings as we happened to walk by. I also paused to take a couple of photographs of Julie Merrill of Asheville, who won “Best of Show” which carried a $350 cash award, for her metal work.
My favorite part of the fair for the last three years has been the culinary tent. Chairs Chef Joseph and Chef Karen from Avanti Savoia co-chaired the committee planning this portion of the event and it was marvelous, as always. I missed the paid event Friday night with the Food Network’s Melissa d’Arabian, but I did make two sessions on Saturday and one on Sunday. It’s a quality event with cooking demonstrations on a professional set, free food, free gadgets and free wine pairings. It’s hard not to like something like that.
I also saw my first drone. It hovered above the crowd at the food trucks and, as I understand it, sells for around $300 on Amazon. It comes equipped with a camera and has the potential to get some good shots from over the crowds at events like this one. I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing more of those overhead.
I enjoyed the variety of acts I heard on the little stage at Union Avenue. The three people pictured are singing opera while the two guys did comedy and some pretty good rap. Worth mentioning is that the crowds spilled over into shops and restaurants all around the square. Union Avenue books hosted a number of authors along their sidewalk frontage and they seemed to be doing quite well. Naturally, I had to drop in to enjoy Subtle Clutch on the big stage. They had a crowd of at least a couple hundred people in a compressed space and did an excellent show. They seem to be growing as musicians and entertainers with each passing month. And hats off to the parents who must be behind the excellent musical taste these guys display.
Finally, and here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for, the Inside of Knoxville Best of Art Fair goes to The Living Garden for the amazing performance art in the temporary fountain at the entrance to Krutch Park. We heard about it early, but couldn’t quite conceptualize it until we saw it for ourselves. The make up on the woman was astounding. She easily could have passed for a statue, but after the beautiful music started, she came to life.
The woman (actress? dancer?) delivered incredible performances all day Saturday. Her expressions and elegant movements kept the crowd mesmerized. I started wondering if I could fall in love with a woman with a heart of stone. The children were just as rapt as the adults in the crowd, though some were pretty timid. Just when you thought you’d seen it all, water lept from her hands and head. Yes, head.
I could not help but wonder at the stamina it must take to wear the makeup all day, stand so perfectly still and move so smoothly for the performances and not be able to truly rest in between as I couldn’t picture her being able to sit. She was carted off on a hand-truck each time and I’m not sure if that was a tip of the hat to theatrics or simple practicality.
So, the weather was great for a second major festival, including Rossini, which makes me worry a little about the Biscuit Festival and the Blank Festival (see the ad to the right of this post) and all the other outdoor events piled onto the coming weeks. Can our luck hold up? I’ll start small and hope the symphony concert on Market Square Thursday night and the first Market Square Farmers’ Market of the season set for this Saturday benefit from our string of good weather for events.