Keeping in tune with my love of garage sales and unique finds on the street, this is something that I think everyone needs to know about. Every year, a few times of year actually, there is this great Fine Art & Crafts Fair in many of the surrounding towns of the area. Set up through Rose Squared Productions, a husband and wife enterprise, which brings quality vendors and exhibitors to many of the parks throughout the Essex and Union County areas.
The first of these shows that I attended was a few years back in Brookdale Park, located in Montclair, NJ. Fist of all, Brookdale Park is a phenomenal location for this type of event because it’s just so big and beautiful to begin with, that’s its always crawling with people on a warm summer afternoon or even a breezy fall day in September and October. The thing that I like best about this craft fair is that its not filled with your average, run-of-mill junk that you could quite possibly find at many shoddy flea markets and fairs wherever you go. Instead, owners of Rose Squared Productions, Howard and Janet Rose, take a serious interest in what their customers’ likes and dislikes are and seem to be very conscious of what kind of vendors they allow to participate. And that works on both ends of the spectrum, when you think about it. The couple takes careful consideration as to whether or not fair attendees will respond well to the exhibitors, as well as makes sure that the exhibitors have the potential to fare well, also. It’s a win-win situation.
Anyway, the Rose’s produce up to six shows a year with upward of anywhere from 140 to 175 exhibitors at each show. Trust me, there’s plenty to choose from. The types of goodies you’ll find at one of these events range from finely hand-crafted items such as dolls and toys, furniture, pottery and sculpture, painting, jewelry and more. In addition, what kind of fair would it be without food things alike to keep attendants’ senses thriving in every which way. I remember when I stumbled across the Brookdale Fine Art & Crafts Show a few years back, I found a great food and beverage vendor from the Caribbean Islands who sold a delicious assortment of sauces and dips, among other things. I got a wonderfully tasty jar of mango salsa to enjoy with chips, celery, whatever you so choose! It was the perfect combination of sweet and tangy with a little kick and I just ate it up! I’m a big sauce person, hot sauce, sweet sauce, you name it, so I was thrilled to score this yummy jar to take home and share with friends and family.
Contrary to what you might think, though, I didn’t spend all day milling around the food and beverage tables like a vulture in the desert, I managed to make my way through the entire fair and pick up a few other items for the house, things that are certainly not edible! I remember one of my favorite vendors was a great little online boutique that created these adorable hand painted clocks. There were so cute and funky, so unique-that’s the greatest thing of all about these events, as I’ve said before about garage sales, is that you find things that no one else will have! It’s basically just a garage sale with a prom dress on, I guess you could say, but I don’t know if that’s doing this particular event quite enough justice. Anyway, these clocks were $40, not too bad, but keep in mind that although I just compared this to a dressed up garage sale, it certainly is not. These people do this for a living and the woman who was selling these amazing little clocks had hand-painted each and every one, so it was undoubtedly worth the money. The designs were all different dogs on the faces of the clocks and then, of course, a swinging “tail” penjulum hanging on the bottom; I couldn’t resist.
Some other vendors included a woman who sold pottery that she created. Again, I’m sorry but I can’t remember the name of the company, all I can tell you is that she had these wonderful candle holders that had beautiful cut outs of trees so that when a tea light is inside, the shadow reflects on the wall-another must-have, for me, anyway!
With so many vendors and exhibitors, as I stated earlier sometimes as many as 175, it would be impossible for me to tell you about all of them. But what I can tell you is this: The Rose Squared Productions Fine Art & Crafts Fair will be coming to our area a few times in the coming months and is entirely worth going to, especially with, if you can believe it, the holidays being not-so-far-away! The first upcoming fair will take place in Anderson Park in Upper Montclair on Sept. 20 and 21, followed by another at Nomahegan Park in Cranford on Oct. 4 and 5, and then finally back in Montclair at Brookdale Park on Oct. 18 and 19.
For more information regarding the fair, you can visit rosesquared.com for a full schedule through 2009. See you there!
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