‘Incredibly uplifting.’ Arts Fest Children and Youth Sidewalk Sale returns after 2 years

Olive Hollis, 11, has gone to Arts Fest for as long as she can remember. But instead of walking up and down the street as a patron, this year she was behind a booth.

On clothespins above her booth hung her “Llamadoodles,” sketches of llamas with giant ice cream cones, balloons and more. Olive had always enjoyed doodling but found drawing as an outlet during COVID. When her mother told her about the upcoming Arts Fest, Olive signed on.

“I needed some pocket money and I really, really liked drawing,” she said.

Olive said she wants to be many things when she grows up, including an artist, so she felt the festival would be a good experience for the future.

The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, which kicked off Wednesday with Children and Youth Day, is being held in person for the first time in two years due to the pandemic. In the interim, kids across central Pennsylvania have been practicing their crafts and taking up new ones.

Kids ages 8-18 set up booths up and down Allen Street for their Sidewalk Sale, displaying jewelry, slime, paintings and more. They run the entire operation, chatting with customers, setting prices and handling cash, while their parent or guardian watches. Some sellers were returning after a two-year hiatus; for others, it was their first time being behind the booth.

Bernadette Cate, 10, started making suncatchers and beaded jewelry during the onset of COVID-19.

“I’ve been making bracelets ever since 2020,” she said. “When I found out about Arts Fest, I thought, ‘I should do this.’ ”

Although unable to sell her jewelry in 2020 and 2021, Bernadette continued to craft. Her mother, Leandra, expressed pride in her daughter’s growth and perseverance over the past two years.

“Despite the delay, she kept her enthusiasm and interest in doing it,” Leandra Cate said. “She was 8 when she decided to do Arts Fest, and we finally got to do it.”

Sharon Frazier, who has organized the Children and Youth Sidewalk Sale for 25 years, said seeing the community come out for the event Wednesday was “incredibly uplifting.” A key part of the sale is the the sense of independence the young artists get from selling their crafts, she said.

“It’s validating for them, somebody comes up, admires their artwork, and then pays for it and carries it around,” Frazier said.

The artwork being sold this year has also evolved, Frazier said, with booths boasting more sewing, beadwork and recycled items than in past years.

“I think they had more at their tables because they had longer to develop it and I think that their art developed in two years,” Frazier said. “I think this year in particular the quantity and the quality was just phenomenal.”

Although kids have had two years off from the fest, some, like 14-year-old Connor Meehan, were only selling their most recent creations. Connor sold his works at the festival in 2019, shortly after he started drawing.

“My drawings back then were not the best and my style’s changed since then,” he said. “I had done some to prepare for the other Arts Fests, but I never used those.”

This was the first Arts Fest experience for Emma Larrabee, 12. She decided in March to set up a booth selling her polymer clay earrings. Emma’s art is influenced by a wide variety of topics and her jewelry reflects that, from miniature creations based on Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” to detailed vignettes of orange trees and “Stranger Things”-inspired graphic designs.

Although some sellers said they’d be putting their money into savings, others had big plans for their profits. Aria and Daphne Davis, who sold their handmade potholders, said they were saving up to buy a blue parakeet or cockatoo.

This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 5:29 PM.