Annual Old Hilliardfest Art and Street Fair slated Sept. 13 – ThisWeek News Article

By KEVIN CORVO Tuesday September 9, 2014 7:58 PM Download a PDF version of this article.

Dozens of artists and vendors will line the streets of Old Hilliard from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, for the Old Hilliardfest Art and Street Fair.

Among the artists scheduled to set up shop is Tina Porter, 49, who will have an array of handmade jewelry for sale.

"I use anything that inspires me as a basis for the jewelry I make," said Porter, who lives on a 52-acre farm in Frankfort, a village in Ross County.

Porter said she was raised in an urban part of Columbus and considered Hilliard "the country" when she visited to ride horses.

She and her husband are beekeepers and harvest their own vegetables and other crops on a farm on Porter Hollow Road, which lends the name for the honey-collecting and jewelry-making operation, Porter Hollow Honeys.

Porter has worked in paints for years but making jewelry is a new endeavor.

"I decided I wanted to make wearable art," she said.

She has created jewelry in gold, silver and copper, but most often uses fine silver or sterling silver.

"I make bracelets, necklaces and earrings ... virtually any kind of jewelry," Porter said. "The jewelry usually depicts things in my country life, such as bumblebees or horses."

Porter said she has displayed her jewelry at three previous shows but Sept. 13 will be her first time at Old Hilliardfest.

A vendor returning for a second year will be Funky Monkey Charms run by husband-and-wife school teachers and jewelry-makers who specialize in custom-made glass tile charms.

Steve McGhee teaches at Tolles Career and Technical Center and his wife, Taushene, is a seventh-grade science teacher at Hilliard Heritage Middle School. They live in Plain City.

The couple began making Scrabble-tile jewelry and other handcrafted jewelry about eight years ago, eventually specializing in glass tile jewelry.

"We do a lot of custom work for football moms at (Hilliard's) three high schools," Steve McGhee said.

Digital images can be transferred onto the glass tiles and made into earrings, bracelets and necklaces, he said.

"We once used a picture (of a family member's great-grandparents) from 1907 and made a necklace. ... That was neat," he said.

McGhee said he and his wife had wanted to work the show in Hilliard but scheduling conflicts had prevented them.

The Old Hilliadfest Art and Street Fair was established nearly three decades ago as Old Hilliard Day and since then has changed formal names several times. It once was staged as a two-day event and briefly relocated to the Franklin County Fairgrounds before returning to its roots as a street festival.

While there are no new attractions this year, organizers said, existing features and attractions continue to expand.

"The car show is bigger this year and we have a great selection of food," said Robert Vance, secretary of the Hilliard Civic Association and public-relations coordinator for Old Hilliardfest.

Vance said the number of all vendor types is up about 20 percent this year compared to last year.

Old Hilliardfest features three stages, each with concurrent schedules of live performances from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 13.

The Americana Main Stage features a variety of paid performers, including the Bullitt Brothers, OutLaw DeLuxe, the Smoking Guns and Third Degree Sideburn.

The Community Stage showcases local musicians performing a variety of musical genres. Scheduled performers include Invitation to Dance, Marble Park, the Dream Thieves and Change it up Charlie.

The Art Fair Stage will feature more intimate performances suitable for the nearby exhibition of artwork.

Other features of Old Hilliardfest include a sunflower show and contest, including awards for tallest and best arrangement. The contest is in recognition of the sunflower as Hilliard's official city flower.

For a full schedule of activities, visit oldhilliardfest.org.