For about 13 years, the Athens Mall parking lot has been the site of the farmers market. It’s provided space for local vendors to conduct business, but as of last Saturday, farmers will have to share the lot with the artists.
From May until mid-September, Athens Local Professional Artists and Craftsman Association will set up shop in the same lot as the farmers, selling everything from jewelry to homemade lotions to metal sculptures. A.L.P.A.C.A., which formed in 2008, is an organization that promotes local artists and sponsors art events in the area.
Even with the two categories of vendors selling in such close proximity, the farmers unanimously agree that they feel no threat.
“I love it — I’m a big supporter of the arts,” Nick Nolan, Laurel Valley Creamery Farmstead Cheese vendor, said. “We’re not really competing. We’re all making art; it’s the same spirit.”
Many vendors agreed with this idea of oneness in art.
“It’s more of a partnership,” Juanita Deal, Spring Valley Farm vendor, said. “If you look at a gourd, farmers grow it and artists make art out of it.”
Artists use anything from gourds, wire, scrap metal and even shovel heads to craft original works.
Rick Crooks, an artist from the Zanesville area, specializes in sculpting farm animals out of scrap metal. Crooks has been blind in both eyes since he was 16-years-old, and the crowd marveled at his creations including animals such as dogs, pigs and horses.
“I had an accident with a firearm,” said Crooks, Old Man From the Mountain Creations vendor. “I cut out the pieces (for the sculptures), and my boys weld them together.”
The nearly doubled tent-count and the warm weather made for a successful Saturday morning for Athens locals and Ohio University students.
“(The art market) is a great addition,” Lauren Schmitz, a senior studying early childhood education, said. “I always come for the fresh produce anyways, but this just makes it even more awesome.”
ag910309@ohiou.edu
@ThePostCulture
