Ballston Arts + Crafts Market

Spring craft fair season is in full swing and the Crafty Crew is super excited for the Ballston Arts + Crafts Market opener this Saturday. We caught up with Ballston Market organizer (and Crafty Bastards veteran), Kristina Bilonick to get the scoop on Saturday’s event. See you there!

What 3 words best describe the Ballston Art + Crafts Market?
Community. Handmade. Hip.

What vendors are you most excited about?
Haa..this is a hard one. I’m excited that many of the vendors who have been at the market since the beginning such as Steve Miller photography and Nancy Sween pottery will be returning this year. Other vendors that excited me when I saw their applications come in were from crafters I’ve admired during shows I’ve participated in such as I like Seamonsters (Zombie underwear pictured below), REALM by Jesse Walker, Squidfire (Grasshopper polo pictured below), 8th Street Soap, Craft Mutiny and Had Matter Art. I could go on and on. Basically, since I was on the panel of jurors, I pretty much love every vendor we’re showcasing. Probably not the best idea for a girl on a tight budget!

How is this market different from other markets in the area?
Well, instead of having our market be the only destination point, we’ve also done a lot of networking with the nearby businesses and restaurants to involve them in our market days. The first 100 visitors to our market will receive a goody bag with coupons and special offers at nearby establishments where they can take a break from the heat and maybe get some lunch or check out the newest show at the nearby Ellipse Art Gallery. For the July market which lands on Bastille day, a wine shop close to the square will be having a tasting that coincides with our market hours. And the nearby mall has added coupon books for its shops for our goody bags. It’s been really fun working with all of the nearby business owners, everyone has been really supportive!

When is it?
The market is held on every second Saturday of the month from 10am-4pm from June-October. Opening day is June 9th and it’s gonna be a blast!

Where is it?
The Ballston Market takes place in Welburn Square, which is a plaza right across from the Ballston Metro stop (Orange Line). Coming from DC, there’s a bus you can take from Farragut Square, the 38B. It’s a nice ride actually, goes through Georgetown, over the Key Bridge and through Arlington. The last stop is right at our market.

How much money should I bring?
You could walk away with a lot for under $20 or shell out a little more for an original painting, photo, or one of a kind jewelry piece. There is so much variety here that there really is something for everyone (dog portraits, anyone?). A lot of our vendors make items in a wide range of prices, like Rania Hassan of Goshdarnknit (Rania’s Gocco printed Moleskine is pictured below) who makes buttons, stickers and bookmarks for $1 in addition to her one of a kind knitted paintings.

Will there be food at the fair?
Our goody bags have coupons for lunch deals at nearby restaurants like the Willow Restaurant (opened by chef Tracy O’Grady of Kinkead’s), I Love Thai, to Chic-fil-a who donated free sandwich coupons (yikes!). Work it off later with the coupons from Curves of Arlington.

Why are you doing it?
The market is sponsored by the Ballston-Virginia Square Partnership, which is a membership driven organization that promotes the quality of living, visiting and doing business in the Ballston and Virginia Square neighborhoods. As part of their mission, they organize a lot of cool cultural events including a weekly farmers market, a fitness festival and the monthly arts + crafts market.

I was hired this year to ‘re-vamp’ the market in its fourth year. As a native DC crafter, I pulled from all of my experiences selling my work at different markets and shows (including Crafty Bastards!) to organize this market. This year’s lineup of artists is bigger than ever, and we’ve added live music and other fun activities to the event. Besides attracting a local crowd, we hope to bring in visitors from DC and other surrounding areas so they can discover what the Ballston neighborhood has to offer in addition to seeing all the awesome artwork and crafts!

Anything you’d like to add?
I hope lots and lots of people come out for our opening day on June 9th and throughout the summer. All of the details including a list of vendors, live music acts and supporting businesses can be found on the Ballston Art + Craft blog.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 7th, 2007 at 12:51 pm and is filed under Craft Fairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.