The Portland Fine Craft Show returns for its sixth season with a juried fine craft show on Saturday, August 28th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The West End News is publisher of the show guide featuring a map of exhibitor booths. Readers can find it online here.
By Tony Zeli
Six years ago, the Maine Crafts Association held the Portland Fine Craft Show alongside the already heavily attended WCSH Sidewalk Art Festival. Organized and promoted separately, the two shows existed side-by-side and supported each other.
Keeping Art in the West End
The much-celebrated WCSH Sidewalk Art Festival ran for over fifty years. The art festival drew up to 30,000 people every August to Portland’s downtown. It was a huge show and helped bring the city’s art scene alive every summer. At one point the art festival ran all the way up to the 600 block of Congress Street, between High and State Streets. But the festival shrunk its parameters over its final years. This created a gap that the Maine Crafts Association was happy to fill.
They launched the Portland Fine Craft Show right there on the 600 block of Congress Street. For two years, both art shows seemed to thrive together. Then WCSH stopped producing their art fest, leaving the Portland Fine Craft Show to run solo. Luckily, Maine Crafts Association kept their show in the neighborhood. And though attendance did not meet the numbers of the sidewalk art fest, it did remain strong. The art lovers kept coming.
Heading (Slightly) Eastward
The show had five seasons on Congress Street, but then the pandemic hit forcing them to pause during 2020. Now, restarting the event, Maine Crafts Association moves the show to the large parking lot beside the old Children’s Museum on Free Street.
“We are delighted with the show’s new location. The 120 Free Street lot gives the event a new look and layout than it has had years past. The event will feel new but will still have all of the wonderful aspects that keep visitors coming back annually,” said show director Simonne Feeney.
The show features over one hundred artists from Maine and the Northeast. Exhibitors offer fine crafts such as baskets, ceramics, furniture, jewelry, leather, wood, metal, paper goods, and more. Also, Maine arts organizations will have outreach booths alongside the exhibitors.
“Attendees will be able to find and shop with their favorite fine craft artists from all over the greater New England area, and it is all just steps away from the previous location,” says Feeney.
“Plus, with this change, the street is now open for vehicles, which will facilitate bringing more attendees to the event and more foot traffic to the local businesses of the surrounding area.”
During the five years that the show was held between State and High Streets, it closed that segment of Congress Street to vehicles. For 2021, the Portland Fine Craft Show avoids the issue. It’s now in a parking lot. And it’s just down the road at 120 Free Street.
“The new location gives us the opportunity for growth in years to come,” says Feeney.
Admission is free and open to the public.
Visual Identity Created by Ebenezer Akakpo
Ebenezer Akakpo of South Portland designed and developed a new visual identity for the 2021 show. His design features a pattern incorporating the Adinkra symbol for “Unity in Diversity” that is used in his native country, Ghana. Akakpo is a longtime Portland Fine Craft Show exhibitor and Maine Crafts Association member. He makes home goods and jewelry featuring his patterns and designs. Also, his designs are featured in public art around Portland.
Find Ebenezer at the show in booth #807 and read more about his art in an interview with the artist in PelotonPosts.
Tony Zeli publishes and edits The West End News and is a Portland resident. Reach him at thewestendnews@gmail.com.
