Space Craft: Unglued Craft Fest invades downtown

Arts | February 11th, 2015

Local makers and artists are gathering once again to show off their new crafts to the local community at the annual two-day Unglued Craft Fest.

This year marks the fifth year the fest has brought crafters together to sell their items in hopes the community will like their products, while making a pretty penny in the process.

Unglued includes 70 makers, artists and crafters who will fill up all three levels of the Plains Art Museum. Kicking off the event is the third annual gala, which offers vendors and attendees a chance to get to know one another.

A ticket gets an attendee a glass of wine or beer, appetizers by Mosaic, a chance to listen to live jazz music and $5 in “Unglued cash,” which can be spent that night at any booth. This event attracts about 400 people, according to event coordinator Ashley Morken.

“The Friday night gala is probably my favorite,” vendor Brittany Sinclair of The Honey B Soap Company said.

This is Sinclair’s second year at Unglued and she appreciates the unique variety each vendor brings.

“At a lot of the other shows you see the same crafters and you see the same kind of crafts at basic craft shows,” she said, remembering a wood carving she had to take a second look at because it was something she had never seen before.

“When you go to Unglued there are things you never even thought people made. It’s just so fun.”

Continuing on Saturday is a free fest day expanded to the second building of the museum with all crafters. Swag bags are given to the first one hundred attendees. Within the bag is vendor coupons, samples and plenty of swag for the entire day.

Live music will be provided by Poitin, a local band that celebrates its Celtic influence through its music, and Boots, Fargo’s folk/Americana band. Attendees can stop and listen to each band perform, or let the music provide atmosphere as they make their way through all levels of the fest.

Keeping with tradition, Unglued also features free workshops for kids and adults, an artisan food row with Milkhaus and a free photo booth. As Unglued grows and attracts people of all ages and backgrounds, new features are added to keep up with the creativity of the makers and to appeal to the growing attendance.

“We try to use traditional skills to make modern projects,” vendor Chelsea Thorson said.

Coming from a lifelong trail of family crafters, Thorson started designing her own jewelry while getting a masters degree in architecture. Now, she teaches workshops for Unglued and is selling do-it-yourself classes in a jar called MaeKit.

“[Morken] pushes you to have new stuff every year in order to be accepted again,” Thorson said.

New features include a vintage Wanderlust Room with four of the area’s vintage finders, such as The White House Boutique and Revolver, available for attendees to look over. Other new features include an indoor chalk fest with The Arts Partnership, a pre-registered Morning Craft Party, three local coffee roasters serving samples and selling beans, and Drekker Brewing Company will be present serving samples and selling merchandise. An extra 50 tote bags will be given out after the swag bags are gone; in addition, attendees of all craft levels are able to go to the Craft Lounge and make free take aways.

This year also features a skywalk looking back at the past four years. The event has new attractions but vendors are encouraged to produce new products every year as well. There are traditional items, but most of them come with a twist, according to vendor Michelle Brusegaard.

“Everyone there is kind of an innovator. You don’t see things there you see elsewhere,” Brusegaard said. “It’s really inspiring to see so many people coming up with new things every year.”

Brusegaard is a fifth-year vendor at Unglued and designed this year’s poster. Using her training in painting she sketches out her designs, scans them and then edits to make them look more like a graphic.

Taking her inspirations from nature, animals, older patterns and her “expressionist graphics” style, she was able to create this year’s eye-catching poster and new screen printed material to sell at the event.

There are a variety of vendors who are new to the fest this year as well as those who have been to Unglued every year. This is maker Larissa Loden’s fifth year, and she says her first year came with an unexpected amount of success.

“I was busy from beginning to end, which is always awesome when you got into a new show that has never happened before. You have no idea how it’s going to go, but Ashley is the most amazing event organizer ever,” Loden said.

Loden has participated in other craft festivals and has sold her work at music festivals, including Lollapalooza and the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, but she enjoys connecting with people at Unglued.

“I love the Midwest and the people there. [Unglued] is just such a nice, beautiful show,” Loden said. “Everyone is so happy and nice.”

Thorson agrees the connections with people are something she looks forward to each year. She enjoys it when people approach her and say they love the craft they purchased a previous year.

“It’s cool that they have a strong connection to me and remember me from the fest,” Thorson said. “It’s really fun to see people appreciating the work and being able to come back a year later and see you again and see what new work you have.”

Unglued gives crafters the opportunity to showcase their work to a variety of customers. By the end of the event vendors are exposed to thousands of customers.

According to Morken about 4,500 customers attend the event on Saturday. Thorson says it’s a good place to kick-start your business.

“You can apply to be in the fest as a small business and then all of a sudden [you] have this lump of cash to get your business going,” Thorson said. “I think it’s done a lot for makers in Fargo. There are a lot of people who have started three or five years ago and now have a real business just because there has been opportunity for growth.”

Unglued is successful with the work of the curators and vendors working together, Brusegaard said. The curators work to make sure the vendors have the opportunity to set their booths apart in order to attract more customers.

“People at the Unglued Craft Fest get me,” Sinclair said. “They understand why I’m all-natural. They understand why I won’t use fragrance oils . . . A larger percent of them are more aware of that. It’s just a different kind of clientele.”

Going strong into its fifth year, the Unglued Craft Fest is truly an event showcasing the talented crafters in the Fargo area. The community has the opportunity to see another aspect Fargo has within its growing culture.

“It’s a really empowering thing for a lot of young makers to have somewhere to sell their stuff,” Thorson said.