Main Street Kent hosts first-ever ‘Crafty Crawl’ featuring crafted goods and craft beers
Crooked River offered succulent “plant flights,” or succulents planted in glass, to customers for the Crafty Crawl.
Craft beer, local arts and crafts, music and food were part of Main Street Kent’s first Crafty Crawl event on June 25 from noon to 5 p.m.
Kent’s streets were filled with eager customers who made their way to each bar or brewery to take part in the event. The crawl featured stands and vendors at several downtown locations including Bell Tower Brewing Co., Madcap Brew Co., North Water Brewing Co. and Zephyr Pub, all with the goal of bringing the Kent community together and supporting local artists.
Zephyr Pub kicked off the event by adding mimosas as their special for customers to sip and shop.
Bridget Tipton, a co-founder of Bell Tower Brewing Co., said they are only eight months into business starting up and she was surprised at how much interest everyone showed in this event.
“It is already much busier than any Saturday we have ever had; the draw of the 20 artists we have is amazing for our business,” Tipton said. “I think it will bring people in who have never been here before, and they can check out our space and figure out what we are all about.”
Hiram Farms was a vendor hosted at North Water Brewing Co.
Hiram Farms is an organic farm that provides working opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities, especially those on the autism spectrum, said Mary Corgan, the head of their ceramics program.
“Everybody gets to work at their own ability, and everyone gets paid fairly,” she said. “Whether you’re the farmer who takes the piece of clay from the block and hands it to somebody else who can form it into a bowl, or whether you’re the person that can actually take the squeeze bottle and make lemon slice decorations or watermelon seeds, everyone gets paid their fair share.”
Junior studio art major Calvin Dent not only paints, but he is also a server at Bell Tower Brewing Co. Dent paints abstracts and landscapes and makes prints of his paintings that were available for purchase at the event.
“I was always an artistic kid, but I did not get serious with my paintings until two years ago, and now here I am,” he said.
Hifiwoodworks set up a table at North Water Brewing Co. Owners Drew and Ashley Smith make everything by hand with a natural finish.
“We are excited to be here,” Ashley said. “We have an online business, but this is our first time coming out to a craft fair to socialize, so tonight is a great change of pace.”
Madcap Brew Co. hosted Erie Street Kitchen and The Pierogi Lady and had fresh beer on tap for customers to drink while they grabbed a bite to eat and visited the local arts and crafts vendors.
NOSH Butters, based out of Cuyahoga Falls, set up a tent at Madcap Brew Co., and Kenzie Hill, a NOSH employee, had craft nut butters available in two sizes for purchase.
“NOSH Butters is our main business, but we also have NOSH Pantry that operates and hosts 25 local, small businesses. We also sell their products,” Hill said. “We are here selling nut butter; it is peanut butter with a twist, if you will.”
The event also featured a raffle at each location giving customers a chance to win prizes unique to each venue.
Local attendee Lisa Lazzer shared that she heard about the event through Facebook and thought it would be a great way to spend quality time with her friend and look at crafts.
“We both live in the neighborhood, so we just walked up here. All of this is very accessible, and it’s nice to see our favorite places in a different light,” she said.
“This is such a unique event; I have never seen anything like it,” a local resident said at Bell Tower Brewing Co. “I would love for this to happen again next year.”
Colleen Burns is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
Gianna Cicchi is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].