The 29th Annual Downtown Stuart Art And Craft Festival

The 29th Annual Downtown Stuart Art and Craft Festival took place this past weekend on Osceola Street here in Stuart, Florida. This is a very popular event. Combined with the weekly Market on Main held in nearby Flagler Park and the Rock'n Riverwalk concert along the St. Lucie River, it was very crowded yesterday afternoon when my sister Susan and I finally arrived, after finding a parking spot just far enough away so that nobody else wanted it. There were over 150 artists showing their work this year, including 10 booths showing photography, and much of it was quite good.

The festival started two blocks east of Haney Circle, seen in the photograph on the right, continued around it and then ran down Stuart's main retail street to the Stuart Promenade, where the Rock'n Riverwalk concert was taking place along the St Lucie River. In the center of Haney Circle is Lady Abundance, a statue that was purchased by the Women's Club of Stuart in 1949 to be placed in this exact spot to honor Cynthia Burnett Haney, "a prominent prohibitionist, women's suffragist, and advocate for social justice." But when the statue arrived, it was decided that the scantily covered female and its association with wine was not appropriate, and it was placed on the east lawn of the Martin County Courthouse, along with its accompanying fountain, instead. But when downtown Stuart underwent a major revitalization project in 1991, it was decided to move the statue and it fountain to the location it was originally meant to occupy.

And famously, back in 1993, when Susan and I were visiting my mother Mary down in Stuart, Susan decided to step into the fountain, climb up the statue, and pose for the photograph seen on the left, with my mother standing beneath. Happily, this was during the month of August, with not another soul around, and so none of us were collared by the Stuart Police. I did suggest to Susan yesterday that she climb up the statue for old times' sake, so I could have then and now photos to put on the blog, but she politely declined. What a spoil sport. In any case, the Downtown Stuart Art and Craft Festival was quite enjoyable, and definitely worth the long walk to get there. If you missed it, be sure to catch it next year. And also be sure to take a photograph with Lady Abundance.