By Riki Bolster
“That’s the most kids I’ve seen at the festival!” declared Brent Huff. “Some families took their kids home for a quick nap and brought them back,” one volunteer in the Kids Zone said. Even the organizers’ one-year old participated in the festival, joining in the How We Grow-led music circle.
Both first-time organizers Nichole Palmietto and Noah Trepper were pleased with the results from the expanded Kids Zone, as well as the “really good atmosphere” of the festival itself. The satellite music stage “added a whole second vibe. It provided a quieter space to just sit and listen to music along with the main action of the festival,” Palmietto said. “It felt like a community. Someone said it felt like Stars Hollow [from the Gilmore Girls], a community where everybody knows each other,” Trepper added.
The Ormewood Park Makers Festival, held on October 18, was “a tremendous success, especially due to community engagement and volunteers,” Mike Gardner said. “[The Festival] was way better than I could have imagined considering the change of date and the short time frame. Kudos to the festival staff,” complimented Mike Snyder, SAND president.
With fourteen workshops this year, including CATlanta, growing a bonsai tree, and bread making, as well as “really good artists – I spent way more money than I needed to,” Palmietto admitted; she and Trepper have already signed up to plan the next festival. They hope to build on the core of volunteers, documentation of plans and bring in more social activities to the planning phase. They plan to coordinate the timing of next year’s festival with other organizations in the community.
