BOALSBURG — Last year, pottery artist Bill Mohl took his colorful and swirly genie lamps to the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts and sold out of his inventory every night.
CDT/Nabil K. Mark
Craig Wesner, of Williamsburg, Pa., helps Alice Smith, middle, and Waneta Lingenfelter, right, pick out hand carved flowers at the Peoples Choice Festival in Boalsburg, July 9, 2009. CDT/Nabil K. Mark
“I did too well,” Mohl said candidly from his tent pitched this year at the smaller and more quaint People’s Choice Festival in Boalsburg. “So this year is the first year I’ve done this one.”
Mohl still had plenty of customers.
“They’re just so pretty,” said Bellefonte resident Karen Snyder, who bought one.
Mohl, who got into art when he taught himself to make pottery while living in a school bus, said he’ll likely come back to this show.
“I like the setup,” Mohl said. “It’s much easier. I like the environment I’m in. There’s a lot of room.”
That was the point that organizers were trying to make when they started the People’s Choice Festival 17 years ago. The festival, on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Military Museum, opened Thursday and will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
“I think it’s a good event for a lot of reasons,” said Col. Gerald Russell, of the Nittany Leathernecks Detachment of the Marine Corps League. “I remember when this existed in State College and then more and more artists came in ... So the local people were gradually cut out of it. So as an effort to help the local people, this was started. It’s been a great success in helping local artists.”
Russell and the Leathernecks were helping to collect the parking fees, a portion of which will fund their community service efforts, which include the annual Toys for Tots campaign.
“We come every year because I just like to support the local artists,” said Diann Westrick, of Philipsburg.
Westrick bought jewelry from Wapwallopen glass artist Jenn Feldman.
“I like this kind of jewelry,” Westrick said. “I like the personal touch of being able to talk to the artists themselves.”
Feldman taught herself the art of glass blowing as soon as she was able to move out of the home where her mother forbid it.
Westrick said she likes “just the way it catches the sunlight. It caught my eye as I walked by.”
Six-year-old Grace Sedewar, of the Bedford area, had to sit for the long car ride to the festival where her mom, Christen, brings her every year.
But she didn’t mind being still when Russian artist Igor Nasibyan noticed her walking by in the straw hat her grandmother gave her and asked if she’d model for him.
“It’s pretty,” Grace said. “I just like art.”
Nasibyan, who has had a display at this show for 12 years, cut a detailed silhouette of the child out of paper with a pair of scissors in about two minutes.
“I finished art school in Russia, and then I trained myself to do that,” Nasibyan said. “I stopped her and said, ‘Can I borrow you as a model?’ I liked the hat.”
His neighboring vendor, Donald Dunne, of Bloomsburg, watched as Grace sat very still for Nasibyan.
“He’s good,” Dunne said. They’ve tented next to each other for four years. “I’ve been through a lot of shows and seen a lot of people. He’s very good.”
Sara Ganim can be reached at 231-4616.
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