Dry Artfest Gets Squirrelly Folks Like Watching The Critters In Their Wooden Homes

A craftsman from Oregon had Spokane pegged as a certain kind of place.

“I figured Spokane was a big squirrel town,” said Todd Wagner of Hood River, a first-timer at ArtFest.

The crowd around his booth Friday afternoon proved he figured right.

Wagner makes squirrel feeders. But they are more than feeders. They are little squirrel homes made of wood, with a glass feeder attached. They have a hanger so they can be hung from a tree, which makes for the best viewing. He has photos at the booth showing squirrels peeking out from their houses and playing on them.

People who like squirrels are more passionate about them than bird-watchers, Wagner said.

His business, CraftRanch, sells more of the squirrel houses than anything else he makes - including birdhouses, butterfly houses and bat houses.

Before he was big into the squirrel market, Wagner thought the animals were just pests to people who were trying to feed birds. But then he saw a squirrel house in a store. They were selling.

“I realized not everybody hated them,” he said.

At the same time, a friend of his who runs a sandwich shop was taking big glass jars that once held pickled peppers to the recycler.

“I thought there has to be something I can do with these jars,” Wagner said. He made the wood homes, attached the glass feeder and the squirrel real estate market was booming.

People simply love to watch squirrels run around and have fun, Wagner said. And the bonus for bird lovers, he said, is that a squirrel feeder dramatically cuts down the raiding of bird feeders.

Spokane’s sister squirrel towns include Richland and Boise, Wagner said. But one town might have thought he was a little nutty. He went to a crafts show in Jackson Hole, Wyo. He brought plenty of his biggest-selling product. He only sold two. Someone finally informed him that there aren’t any squirrels in Jackson Hole, or anywhere in Wyoming for that matter.

ArtFest is at Coeur d’Alene Park for the first time in its 15-year history. The temporary site seems to be a good fit. A large crowd walked among the booths and exhibits at the east end of the park Friday afternoon, but it wasn’t cramped. Music filled the air under the towering ponderosa pines. Children had their faces painted and worked on art projects.

The sun was out, instead of the tornadoes and rainstorms of the past couple of years. The change of venue, however, has brought one change: no beer garden this year. A city ordinance says no beer in city parks.

A dry ArtFest was a drawback for members of the band Old Tale, who had just finished a hot set on stage. Justin Penna stretched out on the grass, wishing for a cold one.

“It’s kind of a bummer,” he said.

“It’s horse (manure),” said bandmate Brian Rice.

They wanted to hang out before they had to go to their next show at Ichabod’s. A rumor was floating around that Patsy Clark’s restaurant was going to have a beer garden across the street on its lawn. Employees there said the idea had been considered and rejected.