Annual Mulberry Street Arts and Crafts Festival expected to draw 30,000 shoppers
For the 46th time, the Mulberry Street Arts and Crafts Festival will be taking over downtown Macon this weekend with hundreds of talented artisans from across the country.
"The Mulberry Street festival is the oldest festival in Macon," said Mae Thurston, executive director of the Middle Georgia Art Association, which hosts the festival. "We feature arts and crafts, vendors from all over the country, including New York, Wisconsin and pretty far out west. We also feature vendors from Georgia and the surrounding states. We have paintings, pottery, stained glass, woodworking and leatherworking. We also have yard art and jewelry."
Touting the quality of the items, Thurston said everything is made by hand.
"It's all original. One of our requirements is that everything is of the highest quality and all of our crafts are made by the vendors themselves. It's a real point of pride -- you can talk to the craftsman at every stall," she said. "Every year, we feature fine visual arts and crafts and many of our patrons come back year after year to get more of their favorite items. It's a great time to shop for gifts for people, for fun trinkets, and for really nice art pieces that you could put in your home or office."
This year, the festival has about 200 vendors, some of whom are new, and some who return year after year.
"The festival has new artists every year. We have a lot of the favorites returning as well. We have nearly 200 vendors who will all operate rain or shine," Thurston said. "We have painters, photographers, pottery and outdoor sculpture for the gardens. We have craftspeople who make wind chimes, stained glass, jewelry, outdoor furniture and so much more. In addition to crafts, we have people who sell food items that are favorites like kettle corn, nuts and things like that. Lots of people come back every year just for those."
The festival, completely organized by volunteers, is the main fundraiser for the Middle Georgia Arts Association and its gallery.
"The gallery itself has different exhibits every month," Thurston said. "Our mission is to strive to support the artist in all stages. This festival is a large part of our success each year. ... It has grown from just a few tables to one of the best festivals in the Southeast.
The Mulberry Street festival hasn't always been associated with the Cherry Blossom Festival, but, Thurston said, it's a partnership that benefits all involved -- especially the attendees.
"Quite a few years back, the board of MGAA and the Cherry Blossom Festival board decided to promote both events at the same time. The (Mulberry Street) festival crosses over and allows people to do something else. People can look at arts and crafts, and then attend an event at the Cherry Blossom Festival for a while," she said.
And thanks to the Cherry Blossom Festival's Food Truck Frenzy, happening on Third Street, there will be plenty to eat.
"We do not have food vendors, although we do have drinks and we are conveniently located to some of the Cherry Blossom Festival vendors," Thurston said. "It isn't hard to go from looking at crafts, to taking an ice cream break, to go back to crafts. We expect more than 30,000 people each year to attend and this year is no exception. We can't wait to see everyone this year and we hope you come on out."
Mulberry Street Arts And Crafts Festival
When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. April 2-3
Where: Mulberry Street, between Second and Third streets, downtown Macon
Cost: Free admission
Information: 478-744-9557
This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Annual Mulberry Street Arts and Crafts Festival expected to draw 30,000 shoppers ."