Fine Crafts And Perennials Dot The Landscape Of Main Street

By Shannon Hicks

If the turnout and amount of merchandise purchased during last weekend’s joint venture on Main Street is any indication of Newtown’s enjoyment of fine crafts and perennials –– an odd sounding combination that worked! –– then Barn Crafts & Perennial Plants just may become a regular event.

On May 17, the Craddock family at 59 Main Street hosted the plants portion of Saturday’s offering: sales of Newtown-grown perennials raised by the master gardener Brid Craddock.

Four doors down, the barn on the property of Chris and Lucy Sullivan was populated with antique stamped pins from Mrs Sullivan; fabric, wood crafts, dolls, and other decoratives by Red Barn Crafts; painted bottles and wooden bowls and boxes by Stacey Olszewski; miniature watercolors framed in silver by Cindy Callan; baskets, painted tins, plates, and buckets by Joann Larnerd; dried flowers decorating candles and stationery by Bek Meyers; sculpture by Rosemary Barrett; and fresh scones by The English Baker.

The plant sale (with miscellaneous items being offered by the Craddock kids in a tag sale) opened at 9 and gardeners were chomping at the bit from the start. Mrs Craddock had personally taken care of the plants from seed to plants, and all were healthy-looking specimens. She had also taken the time to prepare a list of the plants being sold and descriptions of what growers could expect from the plants as they matured, from blooming time and size to color and fragrance.

The selection included plants for shade and sun, and more than half were deer resistant. There were 18 choices, including Autumn Joy sedum, black-eyed Susans, beebalm, aster, blanket flowers, purple coral bells, Missouri primrose, pincushion flowers, shasta daisies, and Russian sage.

The plants, which Mrs Craddock had originally planned to be selling over the course of two weekends, were sold out by noon Saturday. The sale’s success was a combination of robust plants offered at more than reasonable prices (all plants were $3.75).

Just down the sidewalk from the plant sale, the Sullivans were busy with last minute setups for a crafts sale they were hosting in their barn. The main floor of the small building had been opened up and turned into a multivendor area, with local crafters staffing tables, bookcases, and stands filled with their gorgeous offerings.

Once the interior of the barn was stocked, crafters expanded the presentation to the grounds immediately outside the building. The majority of the artists were from Newtown –– including Mrs Sullivan’s Pins From The Past presentation, Mrs Callan’s jewelry, Mrs Olszewski’s folk art, and Mrs Meyers’ flower-decorated offerings.

Rosemary Barrett, a former Sandy Hook resident, drove in from her new studio in Sharon to show off some of her latest sculpture, and Pat and Ken Piddington –– a/k/a Red Barn Crafts –– are from Monroe.