Arts festival returns to Saxonburg with new Artisan Market
First, there was the Saxonburg Festival of the Arts, which lasted for decades. Then, there was last year’s Minglefest. This weekend, Saxonburg passed the baton to a new celebration of art — the Saxonburg Artisan Market, which took over the borough’s Main Street over the weekend.
According to event organizer Nancy Alberth, who is also the owner of Red Door Antiques, the event committee wanted a fresh start for the arts festival and not be tied to Mingle on Main — an event which runs four times during the summer.
“Nothing really happened to Minglefest,” Alberth said. “We didn't want it to be like another Mingle. We wanted to bring back the imagery of the Festival of the Arts. We didn't want it to look like our monthly Mingles.”
Alberth said the public has responded to the new artisan market with open arms.
“They've all been very happy with the event,” Alberth said. “We've gotten nothing but positive feedbacks. They're enjoying the community, they're enjoying the variety of vendors that we have here this weekend, and the live entertainment, and all the shops.”
The basement of the Saxonburg Memorial Presbyterian Church hosted the traditional arts festival activities, such as the fine arts and photography displays and Shirley Winkler’s showcase of ikebana — Japanese flower arranging.
Winkler has brought ikebana to Saxonburg’s art shows each year for decades, having been introduced to it during a stretch in which she lived in Kobe, Japan, with her late husband, Robert. Later, Winkler would found the Pittsburgh chapter of the Ichiyo School of Ikebana, which is still going strong today.
“We have 32 members in our society, and we meet at the Butler Country Club the third Thursday of every month for workshops,” Winkler said.
The featured artist at the fine art show was longtime Saxonburg resident Elaine Heitzer, who filled a whole wall with her watercolor artwork. Heitzer also served as the judge for the entrants in the fine art competition.
Heitzer, who is proficient in oil and acrylic in addition to watercolor, said she’s impressed with how Saxonburg is presenting itself.
“I love what Main Street is becoming,” Heitzer said. “It’s just a nice little destination to go and do some shopping, and then this draws people in so they can see how great Saxonburg is.”
Not all of the art was in the church basement. Dozens of artists put up booths on Main Street itself, selling everything from paintings to sketches to carvings to jewelry.
“We've got blacksmiths over here at the library grounds. We have glassblowing. We have a quilt show,” Alberth said. “It's all local artisans coming to Saxonburg and selling and enjoying the community.”
One of these artists was Heidi Wirtner, who specializes in drawings of fish.
“I love to fish and I love fish. So that's how I started doing that,” Wirtner said. “I started fishing at 3-years-old, and I've been doing it ever since. In all of my spare time, that's what I'm doing. If I'm not creating art, I'm fishing.”
