By Riki Bolster
They stepped up. As a result: SAND is presenting the Ormewood Park Makers Festival on Saturday, October 18 from 11:00am to 6:00pm. The festival, a “combo-festival,” will build on the work of both previous festivals, the Benteen Park Fall Festival as well as the Spring Festival, and is meant for every SAND resident, in all seven SAND neighborhoods and beyond. The 2025 Festival will be located at the intersection of Woodland and Delaware Avenues.
Encouraged by their spouses, Nichole Palmietto and Noah Trepper are heading the committee planning and executing the 2025 Makers Festival. Both are 5-year SAND residents, moving into the Woodland Hills and Custer-McDonough-Guice neighborhoods respectively.
They bring complementary talents to the task. Palmietto started her own theater company and has done stage managing of corporate events. Trepper, who frequents neighborhood festivals, is a finance manager for a consulting firm and brings money management skills. They feel they bring the balance needed to spearhead the effort and involve the community.
“The Ormewood Park Makers Festival, presented by SAND, seeks to showcase our local makers, as well as provide an opportunity for community participation and learning. Nonprofits and neighborhood organizations are also encouraged to participate in the festival to better engage our neighborhood and the surrounding communities,” SAND’s website states.
“We’ve applied for the permits and gotten NPU approval,” Trepper said. A committee is already at work, meeting every other Thursday, working on a site plan. However, both planners stressed it would take the leadership of SAND and an army of volunteers to pull off this festival. They’re seeking volunteers from the entire community and beyond.
“We are looking for volunteers in all slots,” Palmietto said, while bouncing baby Olympia on her lap. They listed a variety of ways neighborhood volunteers could contribute: being a vendor, artist, or a sponsor; presenting a workshop; seeking other sponsors; managing vendors, artists, music, workshops; participating during the week of, day of. They urge all interested individuals to go to the festival website, www.ormewoodpark.org.
To include more residents as part of making the festival a reality, the committee plans a low-level sponsorship level for individuals ($50) which will garner a sponsorship sign for their yard and a t-shirt. Building on SAND’s seed money, the committee is offering sponsorships at higher levels (from $250 up to $5,000 or more) to individuals, families, businesses, and corporations to help defray the expenses of putting on the festival.
“We’re basically throwing the neighborhood a wedding,” Palmietto summed up.
Author’s note: You know how much fun a wedding can be – and how expensive.
