48th festival is in the books

Cool, rainy start capped by spectacular Saturday

Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista Ed Bratton, a Rogers resident, had several of his wire trees for sale at the Bella Vista Arts and Crafts Festival. The aluminum, copper and brass wires are wound together by hand, he said, and then sealed with an epoxy glaze to prevent tarnishing and hold them to the base, which is often a local stone.
Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista Ed Bratton, a Rogers resident, had several of his wire trees for sale at the Bella Vista Arts and Crafts Festival. The aluminum, copper and brass wires are wound together by hand, he said, and then sealed with an epoxy glaze to prevent tarnishing and hold them to the base, which is often a local stone.

This year's Bella Vista Arts and Crafts Festival, which drew exhibitors and customers from all across the nation as well as locals, started off on a cold, wet Thursday, but had the good taste to end on an unbelievably nice, sunny Saturday.

The 48th festival seemed to draw an impressive crowd on its first day despite the weather, said event director Mary Sinkus.

Dealing with Wednesday's rain, she said, was the top priority. Volunteers were spreading crushed rock and straw to cover mud and give exhibitors and visitors alike solid ground to stand on.

Even faced with cold and mud, shoppers were not deterred.

Based on the number of cars in the parking lot, she said, the event drew as much of a crowd as it did last year on Thursday.

"We seem to have a lot of shoppers and they seem to be buying things," she said.

One of those shoppers, Earl Benton, said he came down from Springfield, Mo., with his wife, Dixie.

"She really buys a lot of Christmas presents," he said. "I buy a few myself. It's a great time," he added, opening his jacket to reveal a series of attractive pens he'd purchased that morning.

Julene Baker-Smith, a pastel artist from Rogers, said this festival has appeal in part because it tends to offer higher-quality goods, which is in part a result of exclusively allowing handmade goods.

"This show is known for its quality arts and crafts," she said. "People come here every year in anticipation of this."

Baker-Smith said this is the biggest show she does each year, and she's been doing it since 2003 -- though she did miss a year in there.

Her pastel work depicts a combination of nature -- particularly flora -- and pets. She had a bright, colorful floral piece on display alongside depictions of people's beloved cats and dogs.

Art is a full-time job for her, she said. Her work is for sale online on her Etsy shop, and she does her own prints as well.

"I'm a one-man show basically," she said.

She also does commissioned work of people's pets, she said, and has earned repeat customers.

Lona Mullins and Holly Wertens said they came to the festival in part to see Baker-Smith.

Wertens greeted Baker-Smith with an enthusiastic hug, and there was plenty of commotion.

They know each other pretty well at this point, which isn't unreasonable -- Baker-Smith has done eight commissions of their cats.

"We have 10, she's painted all except the two brand-new ones," Mullins said.

The festival draws visual artists like Baker-Smith, as well as woodworkers, repurposers, weavers of garments and baskets, photographers and so on, but one might overlook the craft that goes into some of the food and drink for sale.

Connie Keck, from Odessa, Mo., had a trailer set up to sell her homemade root beer. She's been selling at the Bella Vista festival for 17 years.

The recipe, she said, hasn't changed since she and her husband started the business 23 years ago.

At this point, she said, her business has grown to include four trailers, and they sell their root beer at roughly 40 to 50 festivals and fairs each year. The Bella Vista Arts and Crafts festival, she said, is the last of them she's working this year.

Events, she said, are the only place they sell their sweet beverage -- which is to say it has never been bottled for mass-market sales, and that's not something Keck intends to do.

"We sell it fresh and cold on-site," she said. "We meet a lot of nice people, we make friends, it's a lot of fun."

General News on 10/19/2016