For those who still need to go holiday shopping, The Dairy Barn Arts Center’s annual Holiday Bazaar is the perfect place to find local, handmade crafts to give this holiday season.
The Dairy Barn, 8000 Dairy Ln., will feature over 40 local artisans, at the annual two-day Holiday Bazaar, where vendors from the tri-state region come offering their handmade holiday items for attendees to browse. Along with the plethora of items being sold, there will be a cash bar, baked goods from Sunflower Bakery, a raffle and fun, holiday-themed events to take advantage of.
Barbara Ery, executive director of Paper Circle in Nelsonville, has attended the Holiday Bazaar in the past, but this is her first time being a vendor for the event. On Friday, she plans to sell her paper and fiber related scarves, necklaces, jewelry and earrings.
“I set up at an event (at The Dairy Barn) before and it was mainly people there to purchase items to make things with,” Ery said. “So this’ll be different, because it’s more items that are already completed.”
The second day of the bazaar, Ery is running a Make and Take event where attendees can create Christmas cards out of napkins. No pre-registration is required, anyone who would like to participate is just asked to pay $5.
Although Ery has attended multiple events at the Dairy Barn, she is looking forward to setting up her own vendor space, as well as seeing the hundreds of people who will come through over the course of the two days.
“I’ll probably spend some money, hopefully make some money and maybe make some new friends,” Ery said.
Among the many vendors attending the bazaar, Jean Moody, owner of Wine Shine, is looking forward to bringing her recycled, painted wine bottles to the event.
At almost 90 years old, Moody uses her years of painting expertise to create a variety of scenes on wine bottles with watercolors.
“I’ve used any kind of wine bottles to paint on,” Moody said. “My husband drills a hole in the bottom of the bottle, then I do all the painting, then it has to be baked and then we add the lights inside. It really makes a nice scene.”
Moody gets most of her wine bottles donated by the restaurant in her husband’s building. For the Holiday Bazaar, she plans on bringing bottles painted with a floral design, her most popular sellers, holiday scenes and several Louisiana State University-themed bottles in honor of the team’s quarterback, Joe Burrow, who attended Athens High School.
“I do a lot of floral designs, but I also do snowmen and Halloween bottles. Just about everything,” Moody said. “But the florals do better because you can use them the whole year.”
Another vendor coming to the Holiday Bazaar is Jo Dunn, co-owner of Tim and Jo’s Trash to Treasures. Dunn and her husband are both retired school teachers who started creating homemade wood crafts out of their home.
“We really enjoy it,” Dunn said. “We make seasonal and holiday wood crafts, and home decorations.”
The majority of the wood Dunn and her husband craft from is not bought from a store, but rather found lying around somewhere, such as on the side of the road or from an old barn.
“Sometimes we’ll buy wood, but my favorite thing is to take an old piece of scrap wood and try to make something out of nothing,” Dunn said. “That’s something I really enjoy doing.”
Some of Dunn’s wood crafts are what she calls Porch Sitters, which consist of large slabs of wood either four or six feet tall, sanded down, then painted with a welcoming message. Dunn plans on bringing several two-sided porch sitters as well that have a different scene painted on opposite sides for people to flip for the appropriate season.
Dunn and her husband’s latest creation, little red trucks, have been the most popular, and they’re looking forward to bringing something new to the Holiday Bazaar.
“It’s important to us that every time we go to a show we have to add something new,” Dunn said. “I don’t want to be repetitive and take the same stuff all the time.”
The hanging trucks are about a foot and a half wide and can take the place of wreath by being hung on the door. In the back of the truck there’s a green tree, and a little wreath attached to the door of the truck. They have also created free standing, 3D trucks people can place anywhere.
With all of Dunn and her husband’s new holiday items they’re bringing to the bazaar, they’re looking forward to setting up and meeting many new people.
“Every time I go to craft shows, I tell everybody we’re not in this to get rich, that we do this because we enjoy what we do,” Dunn said. “And I enjoy seeing different people that come out. I’ve always been a person that enjoys craft shows.”
