Clinton Fine Arts and Crafts Festival both over- and underwhelms
November 10, 2016The Clinton Fine Arts and Crafts Festival, held both days last weekend in the gymnasium, faculty break room and hallways of Clinton High School, was utterly nightmarish when viewed from a certain angle. Well. From multiple angles, and all of them sober. According to FestivalNet, a sort of online guidebook for festivals in the States and Canada, there were some 75 exhibitors displaying their wares. Yet, there could have been twice that number for all I knew. Of the homemade goods and gifts peddled by the elderly merchants, there was nothing if not a bumper crop: delicate-looking aprons of faux-gilt, wooden picture frames, scarves, cotton candy made in blue and pink tubs, holiday-inflected ornaments, towels and painted wood -carvings, soap from lye, soap from goat’s milk, gratis maple syrup like wet amber in bendy plastic cups, topaz necklaces and purity rings, afghans overgrown with daisies and, providing token anti-establishment appeal under a canopy tent in the corner of the gymnasium, tie-dye shirts stiff on hangers and curled over clothing racks. More ...