Car lovers and artisans gather

Cars and crafts made an enticing pairing this weekend for the annual Sisters Arts & Crafts Festival at Creekside Park. Proudly displaying their street rods and classic autos beside the artisan fair, members of the Iron Maidens car club sported bright pink T-shirts and happy smiles, all while collecting silent-auction money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oregon.

Nadine Katz, director of the Iron Maidens, was hustling down the blacktop to hand out one of two big prizes for Saturday's cruise-in.

"We're really just a social group that love to hang out with other car women," she said. "We try and keep it real simple and stay out of the competition end by giving out only two awards, with judges basically choosing the car they'd like most to have in their garage. Everything goes to Make-A-Wish and we get to have fun and come eat lunch downtown and see everybody else's cars."

The Mayor's Award was presented to Patti Olson's custom-trimmed, pearlescent white '37 Ford Cabriolet. Olson bought the car twelve years ago in California and did a complete overhaul with new suspension, motor, tranny, wheels and bumper.

"We've been showing it for over 10 years now. It's a fun little car and the top even comes off," she said. "And it goes pretty fast too, but I've never gotten a ticket. Not yet."

Over on the crowded park lawns, 56 unique vendors hawked handmade artisan goods, from cedar Indian flutes, fused-glass jewelry, organic teas, barnwood furniture, fossil necklaces, fox pelts, glass garden totems, inspiring nature photography and whimsical miniature cottages created from cottonwood bark.

Dan Collins of Grants Pass is the hobby woodworker responsible for the dozens of tiny fantasy homes.

"We've shown here for several years, and my wife and I always enjoy coming to Sisters," he said. "Richard (Esterman) is a great promoter and easy to work with. I started carving the little fairy houses six years ago after seeing a fellow with the Rogue Valley Woodcarvers do them. Each one is totally individual and I get the design ideas from the shape of the bark itself. The best wood comes from the Dakotas and Montana. They take several days to complete, and then I finish them off with colored shoe polish."

Saturday's music was served up '60s-style by the group Three Quarters Short. On Sunday, Louisiana native Kelly Thibodeaux and his swamp-rock band Etouffee were back to fiddle for summer visitors and locals out for a relaxing outing.