Rose Festival 2021: Arts & Crafts Fair gathers East Texas small business owners, craftsmanship

Published 5:45 am Monday, October 18, 2021

Bergfeld Park saw plenty of foot traffic Saturday and Sunday as Rose Festival festivities took off across the city of Tyler. Local and traveling merchants offered handmade products at the Rose Festival Arts & Crafts Fair. There were food trucks and a variety of products, from homemade soaps to seasonal decor, as families gathered to shop and spectate handmade crafts.

The handmade-goods-only fair featured a variety of merchants. One of which was Mike Malone, of Whitehouse, who was selling handmade wired trees out of copper, bronze and aluminum on wood bases, much of which were made of cedar which he refurbishes for his small business, Wire Tree Sculptures.

Malone has been making things out of wire his entire life, he said, and he began making the trees about three years ago. What inspired the trees were three trees purchased by his late parents in Argentina. When they passed, Malone inherited the trees, looked at them and said, “I can do it” and now this is what he does, he explained.

His entire craft is dedicated to their memory. “They bought it particularly at the place they loved to go and vacation,” Malone said. “You have to understand, they bought it in the early ‘60s and they kept it all their lifetime.”

He said he tries to attend the Rose Festival every year, but with last year’s cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he jumped to try new things with his craft. He got into two-dimensional art pieces, which he also sold in person at this year’s fair.

“I was just really exploring a new dimension of wired twisting, that’s all I was doing,” he said.

For more information, follow Malone’s Instagram, @Mmalone_art, where he also posts his work for sale.

The East Texas Gem and Mineral Society, a local nonprofit organization, also attended the fair as a vendor to raise money for its club.

Julia Toombs, of Hideaway, member of the East Texas Gem and Mineral Society, was there to help sell their products, which included handmade cabaseans, painted pet rocks, critter rocks and more.

“I really enjoy making them (rock critters). I made a bunch for the Lindale Library this past summer,” she said.

The club meets on the first Monday of each month at 6:45 p.m. at the East Texas Gem and Mineral Society clubhouse. For more information, visit www.etgms.org.

Another local vendor included LaRea Albert, of Tyler, small business owner of Designs by ELA, who said she mostly sells her products on Facebook and through word of mouth. Made out of her home, Albert’s small business features handmade tumblers and pens of all sorts and themes.

“I was probably one of the first ones that registered,” she said about the fair. “I’ve enjoyed the camaraderie with different people and people looking at and admiring my work. To me, it’s not all about the sales.”

Albert said she sold over 170 products Saturday and more on Sunday and that it was a perfect weather day to be outside at the fair.

Katie Weekley, of Whitehouse, also attended the fair as a vendor as a small launch to her small business, Rattle Dove Co., a spiritual shop for the eclectic mind, she describes. With the message to spread love in a fearful world, Weekley offers specific items with the intention of helping other heals through natural elements of the earth, such as intentional candles that will help others heal from things they don’t want to face. Each of them were sold out as of Sunday afternoon.

“It’s all about just healing with natural elements,” she said.

There were products including a selenite wand that cleanses the space of negative energy.

“This is all my belief, to each their own, but I believe we all have our own personal energy, and when you bring something as a selenite wand or a crystal, it has its own frequency as well. When you add it to your presence, of course it’s going to change your own frequency, and when you put intention into it, it’s going to amplify it even more because you’re going to stick to that intention and you’re going to put it out into the world,” Weekley said.