By Kaitlyn Rowbotham | [email protected]

Sunshine was a welcome guest this year at Draper City's seventh annual Arts and Crafts Festival and the Susan K. Classic Car Show, held on Saturday, May 11.

“The weather has been terrible (in years past), but the people are great so I keep coming back,” said Nona Lansbarkis of Lanmom Originals and Bountiful Soap. “There are so many nice people at the festival — the other vendors, the people who run it, the people who come and visit — are all so great.”

With warm temperatures and sunny skies, patrons flocked to Draper Park in droves. Whether they were shopping for gifts for Mother’s Day or just enjoying the community, the festival packed the park to bursting.

“This is the biggest it’s ever been,” said Parks Technician Stefania Wilks. “This is probably one of the best days weather-wise we’ve ever had; it’s just so exciting.”

This year the festival boasted 165 vendors, five times as many as the first festival in 2015, one-quarter of which are Draper residents.

“My favorite part is just the amazing variety of things,” Wilks said. “They’re all hand crafted and the festival gets to feature a lot of Draper residents who are showing people what they make.” 

From kids to adults, the festival had something for everyone, including face painting and “spin art.” Erin Carrick and Jon Carrick created Spin Art after seeing the concept on a much smaller scale in another state.

Erin and Jon Carrick demonstrate their spin art machine. (Kaitlyn Rowbotham/City Journals)

 

“My daughter was 3 and she loved it,” Erin Carrick said. “We decided we had to come back and do something like this.”

Spin art, Erin explained, is upcycling old vinyl records to create something new and fun to hang on the wall. She and her brother Jon went to the store to find a record player for their project, but instead found an old pottery table. Jon took the motors off of the pottery wheels and hooked a bike to them instead to power the painting fun. As the records spin, participants young and old can decorate them with paint, creating psychedelic patterns on the vinyl.

“We love doing this festival and the diversity of art that’s here,” Erin said. “I think there’s a lot for everyone to see.”

After creating art of their own, doing a little shopping, or getting a bite to eat from one of the food vendors at the center of the festival, patrons headed down to check out the Susan K. Classic Car Show, held in conjunction with the arts festival. The show was started as a tribute to Susan K. Madsen, who tragically lost her life in a drunk driving incident in 2014. All funds generated at the event were donated to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

“The car show is incredible — that’s something that everyone should come out and take advantage of, checking those wonderful vehicles out,” Lansbarkis said. “There's a wide variety of things here, and I love being in this beautiful park to just come out and enjoy the outside.”

Bringing together people from all walks of life, the festival fosters and encourages arts in the community and connects them to local businesses.

“Looking around at everything that is handmade, it’s super cool because you look at the person and go wow, she’s really talented, or he’s an amazing artist, or who would have thought of that idea?” said Candice Brim of Pet Charming. “It’s a lot of fun and I think it allows people to be long-term, solid, stable members of the community.”