Exhibitionists
You don’t see a lot of crimson, yellow and orange leaves in an Orange County fall, yet there are ways to tell when it has arrived.
One is the return of annual Harvest Festival to the Anaheim Convention Center. The traveling showcase of arts and crafts, food and entertainment, which organizers tout as the largest event of its kind in the country, marks its 25th year with a stop in Anaheim from Friday through Sunday.
More than 350 exhibitors from across the U.S. will be at this year’s event, ranging from Shalisa McDonough, the Northern California woman who carves decorative eggs produced by the emus she raises, to Belle Star, a Laguna Hills resident who has created scented oils and perfumes for the festival since the beginning.
About 16,000 items will be on exhibit and for sale, with prices ranging from a few dollars for a packet of homemade fudge to thousands for original jewelry.
Naturally, exhibitors would love it if you came packing a holiday shopping list and several major charge cards. But event organizers say you don’t have to lay out big bucks to enjoy the festival’s Early American ambience and live entertainment. The latter includes world music by the David Zasloff Band, golden oldies by the Mar Dels, the Main Street Dixieland Band and the Scott Land Marionettes. Strolling entertainers include the Dapper Dans barbershop singers and the Spiffy Saxes.
Still, notes Harvest Festival show manager Sallie Kyle Moore, the big thrill for many visitors is simply watching the costumed artisans at work.
“The kids are really fascinated to watch what the artists do,” Moore said, adding that about 40% of the exhibitors work on products in their booths and that the balance exhibit photographs of themselves at work in their studios.
All exhibitors are encouraged to give demonstrations of some sort, said festival marketing director Susan Lahr. Musicians who have been selected to sell their recordings play their instruments, while food makers invite visitors to taste their creations, which will include homemade fudge, pasta sauces, jams and jellies and other delectables. Demonstrations by John Nishio, a Pasadena man who makes whimsical dragons and other characters in clay, are especially popular among young visitors, Moore said. “The children just stand there, fascinated by him.”
Moore, 28, grew up with the Harvest Festival. After her father, Steve Kyle, sold his printing business, he packed up the family and traveled the country for six months. As a result, he recognized the need for a forum where regional craftspeople could sell their wares to an appreciative public.
In 1973, with his brother-in-law, Warren Cook, a $100 investment and the labors of family, friends and a handful of San Francisco Bay Area artisans, he transformed a former fallout shelter into an Early American autumn marketplace that organizers say attracted 15,000 visitors.
Moore has worked the festivals since she was an 8-year-old selling shopping bags at a quarter a pop (they’re $1 now). She’s hustled raffle tickets, staffed information booths and (her favorite) sprinted up and down the aisles ringing a bell to close the day’s sales.
The Harvest Festival now visits 13 cities in its August-to-December season. After this weekend’s stop in Anaheim, it moves to San Francisco (Nov. 14-23), San Jose (Nov. 28-30) and the Pomona Fairplex (Dec. 5-7).
Kyle and Cook sold their interest in 1995 to London-based Southex Exhibitions, but the family’s interests are still being represented by Moore, who manages several shows per year and is active in the artist-selection process.
Along with the all-female staff in their Petaluma, Calif., headquarters, she sorts through samples and photos submitted by 5,000 artisans each year, selecting 1,500 of them to create the jewelry, leather goods, clothing, gift and decorative items that buyers have spent $200 million on in the past 25 years.
The items on exhibit have changed some since 1973, Moore said--”You never see macrame anymore”--and the methods used to create them have become more sophisticated. But the festival still holds tight to its roots, including a commitment to helping those less fortunate.
For example, a food drive of some sort has been held at virtually every festival since 1973. Anaheim visitors who bring a can of food can help the Orange County Food Bank reach its goal of 12 million pounds of food for low-income and homeless people in Orange County, and get $1 off the adult admission price.
Visitors in need of sustenance will find eight food booths offered by the festival’s catering company, featuring chili and corn bread, sausage, bread pudding, Philly cheese steak sandwiches and other reminders of those fat-grams-be-damned days of yore.
BE THERE
Anaheim Harvest Festival, Anaheim Convention Center, 800 W. Katella Ave. Noon to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. $3.50-$7. $1 off adult admission with a nonperishable food item for the O.C. Food Bank. (714) 999-8950.