Winterfest with a Twist
-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on December 17, 2020.
It’s Winterfest time at the Floyd Center for the Arts (FCA), but, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, for the first time in 26 years, it almost didn’t happen.
“We didn’t know how to best handle it. We considered trying just a virtual option, however so many of the artists we work with don’t have the capability to do that,” Becky Lattuca, the Center’s associate director, said about the FCA’s longest running popular event.
This year, the Festival of Trees, Winterfest Café, arts and crafts activities, and two floors filled with arts and crafts, vendors and shoppers will be missed, but shoppers can still view and purchase homemade holiday gifts at a scaled down version of Winterfest set up in the Center’s Hayloft Gallery. The December event will not be held over a weekend as it usually is, but visitors are welcome to the Center where attendance will be staggered during regular business hours (Monday through Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm through December 23rd), or as Winterfest artisan/potter Betse Dunham announced on her Facebook page, “Winterfest is all month long so there are no crowds!”
“We have some of our usual returning favorite vendors and a handful of brand new vendors, which is great. It’s a pretty good mix,” Lattuca said. The mix includes pottery, jewelry, handbags, handwoven and handspun/knit wearables, tie dye clothing, stained glass, photography, baked goods and more. She explained that Winterfest shoppers have the option of visiting the FCA Virtual Winterfest website page (https://www.floydartcenter.org/virtual-winterfest), where they will be directed to artisan websites and on-line stores.
“It’s been somewhat self-regulating, in that we will get a couple or a few people at time,” Lacutta said. Mask wearing and social distancing is required while at the Center. “We’re also accommodating some visitors by appointment (745-2784) for 15 – 20 minutes of private time during regular business hours,” Lacutta said.
“It’s available. It’s happening. Nothing in 2020 is in the usual way.”–Colleen Redman
