Craft Fair

I should have timed this better but I didn’t. Maybe it’s the name, Yo Mama’s. This contemporary vernacular confuses me. Is it a possessive pronoun or not, should it be pronounced Yo as in Yo Yo or Jo, as in Jo Jo. Plus I prefer Momma to Mama. Or maybe I wasn’t in a craft purchasing mood. Anyway, I had previous commitment that afternoon but I wanted to make it a point to watch the One & Nines play. The band came a few minutes after the 6 pm start time, played a rocking set that included an encore and as just about as soon as the music stopped, the tents were being folded. The 3rd Annual Not Yo Mama’s Craft Fair was over. I hadn’t done more than walk around a bit didn’t take any sort of blog pictures of the actual stuff for sale. This is not meant to be representational at all.


I remember going to a craft fair or two, in upstate N.Y., New England, romantic weekend type thing, in the 80s. Back then there seemed to be two categories of artisans selling their hand-made wares. You had the back to nature hippies, many of whom stayed on the commune after the 60s and turned them into sustainable mini-communities. The other segment were rural folk, conservatives, not quite Amish but they leaned Mennonite. Like Shakers or just conservative farm families who had a side business making folk art. There didn’t seem to be a divide at this craft fair. The times have changed for the artisans. Some seemed to be city dwellers, others traveled from the country. A lot of beautiful work, real diversity of objects, jewelry, satchels, bird feeders. The old artisan divide was gone. We’re all hippies now. Technicolor Shakers.

The parking lot that once served factory workers was transformed into a bazaar that would not be out of place in the Catskills. Kids too, children, reminding us all that every summer is new. The community poured forth, manifesting itself again. Jersey City partisans welcomed the artisans.

I recently wrote about the One & Nines, and I was going to refrain but they were really bloody fantastic. They have this new arrangement of an original, Fool is in the title, I can’t remember the exact name, a very soulful rendition. Early in the set was that song, then the cats erupted with a fierce R&B thunder, ending with take no prisoners kick out encore of Chuck Berry’s 30 Days, done in a style reminiscent of the Ronnie Hawkins cover. Never saw them better. Really nice jamming on all fronts. They keep getting better so I can’t wait until I catch the next gig. Their performance was utterly uplifting.

We’re just promoting Exquisite Corpse, she said. A lot of artists came here today so we’re just getting the word out, and seeing if people are interested in showing their art. It’s going to be a good show. I wrote about this eclectic gallery show last year. Apparently, it’s a moveable gallery. The moniker apparently is taken from mash-up events done by 1920s Surrealists. They too had a great band playing, Crash Gordon. It’s part of the Art Tour in October. Don’t want to push the season, I can wait for the fall. However, this was a memorable exhibit and I’m glad it’s coming back. I wrote about the main show here, and shows within the corpse here and here.

So I took some pictures and figured, shoot might as well put something on the blog. Maybe I could even get into a craft buying mood. But, like I said the place closed at 7:00pm and business seemed to be done.

I like to watch set ups and take downs. Dismantling in motion. Cars back in the lot, trunks open, canvas being folded. The lot soon went back to being empty and the artisans returned to their work areas, plying their talent that combines self expression with functionality.