by Leah Cohen and Nicole DeWald
Sparkle Mart, Greenbelt Recreation’s annual Juried Art and Craft Fair, will take place at the Community Center on Saturday, December 3 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, December 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with over 70 vendors participating. This year, visitors can shop and mingle with local fine artists, artisans and authors in the Ground Floor East, the gymnasium, first floor classrooms and on the third floor in the ceramic hand-building studio. Signs will be posted to guide visitors to rooms with vendors. All rooms are ADA accessible.
Sparkle Mart artisans will be offering a wide range of handmade wares to add beauty to your daily life or provide the perfect gift for any occasion. There will be pottery made by Greenbelt Recreation ARTS students, instructors and artists in residence, as well as carved wooden utensils and custom cookbooks. Browse among paintings, prints, letterpress cards, photography, soaps, candles, bags and cozy quilts. Try on mittens, hats and scarves and shop for jewelry made from fused glass, wool beads, resin, found objects, polymer clay and metalwork. Find children’s clothing, hand-made toys and children’s books. Additional booths will feature merchandise from the Greenbelt Museum and Friends of Greenbelt Theatre.
Guests can enjoy live music on the gym stage each afternoon while they shop. On Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m., the Hot Club of DC will entertain with French jazz sounds in the style of Django Reinhardt. On Sunday, Seth Kibel and Friends will play their lively klezmer tunes from 2:30 to 4 p.m.
Throughout the show on Saturday, guests can enter a free raffle to win $50 in “Art Bucks” gift certificates which can be spent at the fair or applied to a winter Greenbelt Recreation visual or performing arts class registration. Ballots are available at the arts table in front of the stage in the gym.
The Community Center is located at 15 Crescent Road. Ample free parking is available, including the lot near the swimming pool and another lot behind the library. Admission is free. Masks are encouraged, but not required. All booth spaces for this show are booked; prospective vendors for next year’s show are invited to provide their email address to Anne Gardner at agardner@greenbeltmd.gov. City of Greenbelt arts programs are supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council.