Arts and crafts show draws a crowd

The Creekside Park lawn overflowed with creativity as 82 artisans showcased their fine arts and unique crafts for the 16th annual Sisters Arts & Crafts Festival on Saturday and Sunday.

Swarms of folks browsed by booths filled with original art from hand-carved woodcrafts to upcycled jewelry.

Vendors Kim Black, from Pleasant Hill, and Gloria Davis, from Crooked River Ranch, are two artists that have combined their talents to create decorative pieces of art.

Black is a pine-needle basket artist who has been making baskets and teaching classes for 30 years. Davis has been painting wildlife and Western-inspired art for 35 years. One of their collaborations, "War Ponies," is an embellished gourd with coils of Apache pine needles which are sewn together with sinew made by Black. The painting of horses on the gourd with multiple layers of oil paint with a wood-burned background was made by Davis.

"We met at the Harvest Festival in Sisters a few years back," Black said.

"Then I took a couple of her classes in Crooked River Ranch," Davis added. "We liked each other's art, so we joined forces and blend the two together."

Event organizer Richard Esterman cruised around the festival making sure things went well for everyone.

"It's a great mix of art, plus I've brought in a lot of new vendors," Esterman said. "I want people to come to Sisters to see a new variety of vendors, not the same old thing. The whole purpose is for the event to bring in more people to Sisters. This year we have added a new game called corn hole, a bean-bag-toss game. The games are always free for the public to play."

With such a variety of fine arts and crafts, there was something for everyone's taste, including a few very unique items.

Ann Chapman, from Kentucky, who vacations in Sisters every summer, admired a remarkable-looking necklace at Jenee Mohler's booth.

Mohler designs elegant repurposed and upcycled jewelry, and showcased jewelry crafted with authentic antique pocket watches, porcelain dials, old gears and parts, vintage jewelry pieces and whatever else strikes her fancy

Mohler, a Sisters resident and first-time vendor, shared the booth with her daughter Beth Garner, who upcycles bike-tire inner tubes into stunning jewelry.

"This venture started last year when my mother took me to a basic wire wrapping class," Mohler said.

Mohler has always been intrigued with the intricate mechanics of early timepieces.

"I love the mystery surrounding the vintage pieces I start with and enjoy creating something beautiful to wear out of them."

Rock & roll blues-style music by Derek Michael Mark & Double AA band entertained throughout the day on Saturday, as folks stopped by and listened for a while on their way for more browsing or getting ready to grab a delicious pulled-pork sandwich from Bad Boys Barbecue.

And you couldn't keep folks away from the enticing Chocolate Moonshine Co. booth all weekend - including this Nugget correspondent.

"Our company is located in Grove City, Pennsylvania and has been operational for three years," said Sean Babuso, company employee. "I actually flew in from Pittsburg a couple of days ago for training and am having a great time in Sisters."

Chocolate Moonshine Co. uses sustainable natural and organic raw materials that are not overly processed. Their fudge recipe was voted as the "best tasting fudge in America" by Hershey's Chocolate Co.

"Our fudge is creamy and not overly sweet. It's made with fresh cream and fresh butter with 30 percent less sugar than other fudge," Babuso added.

Reed and Sarah Boeder, from Bend, new distributors for the company, were handing out samples of fudge.

People took time to relax in the shade where a light breeze made it pleasantly cool. The festival also had several wet dogs walking around that had found the creek that runs through the park.