This year marks the 30th year of the Haddonfield Craft and Fine Art Festival, a two-day event that features artists and crafters and enables attendees to browse and purchase handcrafted items. The show first started in 1992, but due to some gaps in the pandemic, this will be its 30th year.
This year’s festival will take place on Saturday, July 13, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 14, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. along Kings Highway, rain or shine. it will include a wide range of work in ceramics, glass, jewelry, wood, fiber, paper, drawings, paintings, photography and wearable art.
“The craft show is a staple in Haddonfield, really just a cornerstone for the summer as well as the events downtown,” said Michael Marciante, executive director of the Partnership for Haddonfield. “It’s arguably the largest event to come to downtown Haddonfield or Haddonfield in its history, so we’re really excited to see it going into its 30th year …”
New festival features this year include live music along Kings Highway between Washington and Haddon avenues, and Tanner Street to Euclid Avenue.
In celebration of the event’s 30th anniversary, the Partnership for Haddonfield has also teamed up with noted Philadelphia artist Paul Carpenter, who designed a poster and is creating an anniversary T-shirt that can be ordered ahead for pickup at the festival. He will also host a poster signing on Sunday at times yet to be determined.
In Kings Court, there will also be the Boroff Family Emerging Artists area where eight student artists from Perkins Center for the Arts, student glass blowers from Salem Community College, student ceramic artists from Camden County College and pottery students from Markeim Arts Center will be featured.
Nicole Stowe, a glassblower from Salem Community College is one of the participating students.
“Being a glassblower is absolutely a dream come true,” said Stowe. “It’s one of the hardest mediums in my opinion, to work with regarding the arts so to be able to work with something that’s not only scientific but artistic is absolutely phenomenal.”
She and a few other glassblowers will be creating glass creations live on scene.
“It’s almost like wizardry for some folks and for them to see the process and how it’s done,” Stowe said. “it creates a new passion and folks really want to go for it and explore the medium and try it out themselves, which is something that the college does do, it has Sunday workshops.”
“People who attend as guests love it,” remarked Maria Veneziano, owner and operator of Philadelphia’s Renaissance Craftables, with whom the Partnership for Haddonfield is sponsoring the festival.
“Sometimes I’ll talk to people while I’m there or overhear conversations, and they think it’s a good mix of art, craft, price point – a little something for everyone,” she pointed out. “I’ve never really talked to anyone who said, ‘I couldn’t find x.’ I honestly get people the week after the show who said I didn’t get their contact info, and now I want to go out and buy something.”
The craft festival offers attendees the opportunity to buy interesting items they may not ordinarily be unable to find in stores. On Facebook, its organizers have been highlighting artists leading up to the event, such as Jersey Plate Art, creator of signs from license plates, among other works.
“The artists enjoy it because what they tell me is, the people who come to this show like to buy,” Veneziano said. “They appreciate art, they are looking for specific types of art and they do want to buy, which is really great, because sometimes an artist will do a show and not do quite well at it. But we’ve always had very good feedback about the sales at this show for artists.”
