Hershey ArtFest 2019: Welcome to the West End

This was ArtFest’s first year under its new name. For several years, it was Art on Chocolate and run by both the Downtown Hershey Association and the Hershey Derry Township Historical Society. Last year, they decided to split up, so now we have two summer festivals. The historical society got ArtFest, and the downtown group CultureFest. I expect both of them will be refining their model, but already you can see differences between the two events.

As you can see from my CultureFest post, the event was held downtown and was less art-oriented. There were more ethnic groups represented, such as a Scottish bagpiper and Kenyan fashion and jewelry. There were more food vendors and even at least one vineyard serving drinks.

ArtFest was focused more on things of beauty: jewelry, photography, paintings, textiles, glass, flowers, wooden furniture, and bath products. It was held at the Cocoa Beanery in Hershey’s future West End neighborhood

(Note to outsiders: the fields west of the hospital will be the future home of a mixed-use residential-retail development. It’ll take more than a decade to build out, so we might as well get used to the name.)

The show featured headlining artist Kevin Graham. When he worked for Disney, Graham created stunning artwork for their iconic characters as well as their Star Wars line. Graham brought prints to sell at the show, and I had to get two: a pensive Yoda, and a Lilo/Elvis, both of which grace my office bookcase. (His website appears not quite ready, but his Instagram page shows you what he’s working on now, including “Game of Thrones” portraits to be used for trading cards. (He is also willing to consider commissions.) It was fun chatting with him about his experiences working for the House of the Mouse, and if you are a Disney fan it would have been fun for you as well.

Anyway, while Teresa sold books, Skye and I roamed the stalls.

Coming all the way from Tucson, Arizona, was the owner of Kathy Loftus Jewelry Designs. If I remember right, she was visiting the area, and decided to make it a business trip by displaying her Southwest-inspired jewelry. Skye bought a lovely pair of earrings from her, and we chatted about turquoise gems (my favorite, and an inspiration for the Peschel Press color scheme).

Skye and I love looking at art, so we were stopped at Jean Macaluso Fine Art when we were attracted to the abstract art that captured acrylic paint as if it were flowing rivers of color. Jean discussed the process by which she created these resin-preserved works, and we looked over her necklaces, tiles, and other products.

According to her event calendar, she’ll be at Foundry Day in Boiling Springs on June 1, and at the Carlisle Holiday Craft Show on Nov. 30.

Mother’s Day was near, so Skye stopped by Lavender and Locks and bought a spray of flowers that looked beautiful on the dining room table. The flower farm from Elizabethtown also does custom floral designs and special events, with a specialty in weddings, for which they’ve won three awards from WeddingWire.

Then, while we were walking around, this blonde stopped me.

I’ve seen Marilyn on plenty of shirts, but never surrounded by a collage of images and added to a modified shirt. Hello, who made this?

Meet Tara Kohler, on the right, who works with her mother for Taralala’s Creations. We had a delightful conversation where we talked about who did what in their businesses, and about her Maine Coon cat, which hands down is my favorite.

Her mother owns Celtie Roses, a “shabby chic and vintage inspired designs” business.

Taralala’s Creations can be found on Etsy. They’ll also be at the Lebanon Valley Expo Center Nov. 29-Dec. 1 for their Christmas craft show.

To whet your appetite, I’ll leave you with another look at their designs:

One of Skye’s favorite vendors was at the festival.

We met Karen of Countrytrail Soy Candles at the Hershey High Winter Arts Show a few years back, and Skye has been a fan of her varied hand-poured candles. We spent our time talking about the wide variety of scents and testing what smelled better, the citrus-based scents or the fresh-baked bread. Countrytrail is Hershey-based, and Karen will be at the Star Barn opening celebration on July 3rd.

Skye’s other favorite business is Lori’s From the Garden, where she picks up her sugar scrubs and bath products.

So how was the day for Peschel Press? Absolutely fabulous!

Seriously. I admit I wasn’t sure what would happen. Not just because I’m naturally a morose person, but it was a brand-new event in a new location that everyone has to drive to reach (unlike the downtown events, where neighbors can reach by walking).

So if we sold less than half of our usual, I would have been happy. Sometimes, some investments of our time will take years to pay off.

Instead, we had our best sales day locally. Plenty of people came out and were willing to deal with a crowded parking lot to reach us. We were continually busy right up to and past 4 p.m. — another record, since the last hour is usually so dead vendors start packing up.

Best of all, the fickle May weather behaved itself. The afternoon rain didn’t come until we started breaking down, and was still a minor drizzle while we loaded up the car and headed home.

So now we have two local events to look forward to, and best of all, they can get bigger and better.