Sat 11/28
Sat 12/5
Sat 12/12- Sun 12/13
Cleveland is no stranger to doing it yourself. You know, DIY. The same goes for northeast Ohio’s longest-running independent craft show Cleveland Bazaar, which boasts a succinct but apt mission statement – “DIY, baby.”
Founded by Shannon Okey, the craft show, which is in its 11th year, attracts artists from our area and across the region, as well as customers supporting local artisans. While Cleveland Bazaar has events throughout the year, the holiday season is its bread and butter, with three different affairs offering shoppers the antithesis of the Black Friday experience.
The first event is Cleveland Bazaar at Winterfest taking place 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sat 11/28 in the 5th Street Arcades. Next is Cleveland Bazaar on Coventry from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sat 12/5 at Coventry Village, with the last being the biggie, the Cleveland Bazaar Holiday Show scheduled from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sat 12/12 and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sun 12/13 at 78th Street Studios.
Cool Cleveland talked to Okey about the thriving Cleveland Bazaar.
First of all, how has Cleveland Bazaar evolved over the past decade?
There wasn’t really anything like this in 2004. I had friends who were behind Boston’s event, so I asked them if I could do the same thing here. They said, “Go for it.” So this many years later, we’re one of the last ones standing. I can attribute that to Northeast Ohio’s willingness to support independent creators. People respect handmade items here, and you can’t really say that everywhere. I think there’s a very maker-focused community in Cleveland. And maybe that’s because we come from that sort of background. Maybe that’s why we appreciate it more. It’s hard to say. And this remains what it was from the very beginning: A group of very dedicated handmade artists getting together to put their work on display. A lot of people are very solitary. A lot of people work in their studio all day long and don’t get out there. The event is their chance to get out and meet the public and show off their work.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but when it comes to crafts is there a stigma where people think about grandmothers turning milk cartons into planters and that type of thing?
We see that in my day job, too. The rest of my time not doing this, I own a knitting book publishing company that has 60 titles out. We fight that stereotype everyday. People just keep referring back to it. They can’t place it in a different context. With these events, we help people place handmade in a different context.
So with that in mind, what kind of items can people expect to find at the upcoming Cleveland Bazaar events?
You never know what you’re going to find. It’s a juried show. You can’t just come in and set up. So there is a certain level of quality demanded. If that weren’t the case, we’d have 70 percent jewelry vendors and nothing else. By having a juried show, we not only look for quality work but we also look for a distribution of work so you’ve got jewelry, apparel, hand-knit items, screen prints, posters, ceramics, glassware, paper art, toys for children and toys for dogs. Literally, if there’s a category of crafts we’ve probably got it. We’ve got everything. Vendor-wise, at the 5th Street Arcades and Coventry events, there will be about 65 vendors, while at 78th Street Studios we expect 125 vendors spread throughout the entire building.
Regarding the Winterfest event, how did Cleveland Bazaar end up at the 5th Street Arcades?
This is our second year there. We have always enjoyed taking spaces that are underutilized and using them for something. One year we were at a space that became Chinato. It was empty and not renovated. Another year for Valentine’s Day we were in Crop before Crop went into the space at 25th and Lorain. It was a beautiful empty shell. We’ve always specialized in taking spaces and turning them into something else making it so people could see them in a different light.
Regarding 5th Street Arcades, we approached them and asked about the space. Obviously I knew the space, I’ve been going there since high school. Dick Pace from Cumberland is the person who was there at the time. They’re bringing people downtown, and that’s a hard thing to do. So we jumped on that stage because our previous years for Thanksgiving weekend weren’t as populous. So getting to sort of append ourselves to an existing event downtown was great, and it was good for the people in the 5th Street Arcades too. It brought in a lot of traffic.
Finally, do you see Cleveland Bazaar returning to the 5th Street Arcades in the future?
I’m planning on it. As long as we can keep making this work with Winterfest, we’ll be at 5th Street. So I think you can call it a new home for this particular show.
http://www.5thstreetarcades.com
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Cleveland, OH 44115