Community Roots Market grows

My apologies for the lapse in posts during the last week. The crew here at DwellWell (that would be just me—Megan) hasn’t been feeling all that Well. I’m on the mend, though, and am back in bloggy action.

In my altered state, I failed to alert everyone to a great event that took place on Sunday: The Community Roots Local Market at Fresh Abundance. Fortunately, the market will be held again April 19, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and roughly monthly until summertime, when it’s expected to be a weekly affair.

Fresh Abundance , the organic grocery store and food-delivery service at 2015 N. Division St., started the market last fall. It’s a chance for painters, jewelry makers, knitters, bakers and other artisans to sell their goods to people interested in shopping locally.

I attended the first event back in September and was surprised Sunday to see how much it has grown in just a few months. Despite rainy, cold weather, turnout was good and a lively buzz filled the air (could it have been the coffee ?).

Among the vendors were:
-Seamstresses Shawna Gaines and Michaelyn Erickson, who sell their work at www.sewitseamsclothing.etsy.com . Gaines displayed a lovely dress she sewed using vintage fabric and following a vintage sewing pattern.

-Jacqui Savisky and Scott Scoggin, a couple who met at the Art Institute in Seattle and moved to Spokane just recently, had a wide variety of work for sale, including handmade change purses, pillows, and greeting cards, each silk screened with Jacqui and Scott’s original designs. The couple uses only environmentally friendly, water-based inks on their work. They also sell their goods on Etsy and write a blog called United We Slide .

-Artists Cat Olason and Mark Easton, who together are Dancing Chicken Studio. Their work included tiles, figurines and what they call “wee paintings,” which are, well, very small painted canvases that rest on miniature easels.

-Jewelry maker Cyrielle Criscione, who can be reached at (509) 710-6775.

-Yarn maker Joyce Thomas, of Thistledown Shetlands & Wools , in Edwall, Wash. Joyce doesn’t just spin yarn. She does everything from raising the sheep that provide the wool to knitting hats and purses.

There also was a craft table for the kids, where teacher Sean Benson demonstrated how to make paper dolls out of garbage. Brothers Michael and Will Petro, ages 7 and 11, were hard at work at that station, hinging the paper bodies together at the joints using leftover twisty ties from Fresh Abundance’s produce section.

For a full list of Sunday’s vendors and contact information in case you want to sell your own goods, go here .

And I promise to remind you about the April 19 market well in advance.