ArtFest returns to Browne’s Addition for 31st year

Coeur d’Alene Park in Browne’s Addition was bustling Saturday with live music, food and shoppers wandering among the booths of the 31st annual ArtFest.

Jon Ortgiesen was perched on a chair selling wool hats he and his wife, Cholpon Djumabaeva, created. The couple, based in Gig Harbor, Washington, travel the country nearly year round selling their wares under the name Kyrgyzkonnection.

Ortgiesen said he was spending a lot of his time educating people on the properties of wool, which isn’t only for cold weather.

“People just don’t understand how wool works,” he said. “It’s cool. It breathes.”

He was wearing one of the hats and the inside of his hat was dry even though the weather was hot Saturday. “I wear it all year round,” he said.

Art of many kinds can be found at the annual festival hosted by the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, including paintings, photographs, pottery and jewelry. One vendor this year is selling furniture made out of old wine barrels.

Mike Basinger and his wife, Maureen, have a strategy for their annual ArtFest experience. They make a complete circuit of the park, checking out each booth, and then go back through to make purchases. This year they did it while munching a large caramel apple.

“We do more shopping than the bands,” Maureen Basinger said. “We try to make a point to buy at least a couple things.”

This year they picked up some handcrafted garden tools and two metal Seahawks signs destined for the “Hawk den” in their basement.

“That’s where the magic happens,” Mike Basinger said.

Chuck Reese, who lives in Kooskia, Idaho, tries to make the trip to ArtFest every year with his wife. “This is a good reason for us to come to Spokane,” he said.

This year he picked up a 6-foot-tall Dr. Seuss- inspired “whimsy flower” made of metal for the garden. The flower, from Twin Falls-based Bartlett Artworks, was topped with what appeared to be curly antennae.

“It was hard to choose, actually,” Reese said. “This one looks crazy enough for our style.”

One could have made an argument for the giant metal dandelion that was easily 10 feet tall, but the “whimsy flower” apparently made a bigger impression.