Minnesota Prairie Roots

The Holly Days Sale at the Paradise Center for the Arts features a wide variety of handcrafted art like this glass Christmas tree.

WHENEVER I SHOP a holiday boutique, a craft fair, a farmers’ market, a local pop-up, a gallery, I’m impressed by the work of creatives. What talent.

A sandwich board outside the Paradise promotes two events there last Saturday.

I can relate. I understand their passion for the creative process. When I create with images and words, I become fully-engaged in crafting my art. I love what I do.

The Winter Wonderland Group Show currently graces a gallery at the Paradise Center for the Arts.

Can you imagine this world without art? I can’t. Not personally or otherwise.

A streetscape along Central Avenue shows the restored marquee at the historic Paradise and festive holiday decorations.

Sakatah Carvers sculpted this Rudolph ice art during last week’s Winterfest.

This mural based on an historic photo of skating on the Straight River hangs on the side of 10,000 Drops Distillery housed in an historic building just off Central Avenue in Faribault.

We are blessed here in Faribault to have a thriving arts community and a community which embraces these artists—whether knitters, sculptors, photographers, performers, even those farmers’ market vendors who craft homemade jams and sweet treats. They, too, are artists.

The artsy sign promoting a holiday market at 10,000 Drops and Corks & Pints last Saturday.

Last Saturday during Faribault’s Winterfest, I perused several creative-focused events with artists vending their wares. Pottery. Jewelry. Paintings. Photographs. Food. And much more.

Entrepreneurs Elizabeth and Sophie vending their slime.

I met two young sisters from New Prague, Elizabeth and Sophie, selling slime under their brand, Slimey.Unicorns. They’re an ambitious pair who attended a slime convention in Chicago before launching their line earlier this year and selling at farmers’ and other markets. They seem market-savvy with names like You’re a Minty One Mr. Grinch and Egg Nog tagged to mini pots of their homemade slime. I told them I expected to see them on “Shark Tank” some day pitching their product. They looked at me with blank looks.

The sisters’ slime.

No matter, I congratulated them on their success—the sisters made several sales while I waited to talk to them—and then moved on to view the works of other creatives.

This art marks a pop-up shop along Faribault’s Central Avenue.

I didn’t purchase anything while on my creative tour in historic downtown Faribault. But plenty of others did, supporting those who are passionate about art. Like me.

FYI: Vendors from the Faribault Winter Farmers’ Market will sell at their final market of 2019 from 1 – 4 p.m. Saturday, December 21, at the Keepsake Cidery Solstice Market in rural Dundas.

© Copyright 2019 Audrey Kletscher Helbling