The 3rd Annual Michigan of gourds will be:
Festival hours are 10:00 - 6:00 on Friday, Saturday and 10:00 - 5:00 on Sunday.
Admission is $5.00, 12 and under free of charge.
Vendors and their workers will be admitted free.
All proceeds are to benefit Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation.
We have indoor and outdoor spaces available. Stalls are $60.00 each and space is unlimited. 6' and 8' tables are available to rent for $2 each. Please, one vendor per space. The indoor spaces are 10 ft. deep and have a back wall for display. Electricity is provided, please bring cords and any additional lighting you may need. Dogs are allowed on grounds, but not in buildings.
Vendor set-up is on Sept 13th, 12:00 - 7:00 p.m. or Sept 14th 7:00 - 9:00 a.m. Volunteers will be available to help you unload your vehicle.
We encourage you to do demonstrations in your space. We will have a Best of Show vendor competition for your display area. We also have a raffle to help raise funds for the hospital. If you would like to donate an item we would appreciate it.
There is camping at the fairgrounds. It is $15.00 a night and includes electricity, water, showers and dump station. The fairgrounds are located in the town of Imlay City and there area provisions and restaurants within walking distance. If you require any additional travel information about our area please let us know.
Michigan State Sales tax is 6% on all tangible sales. It is the individual vendor’s responsibility to collect and report such tax.
The purpose of the Gourd Festival is to educate, familiarize and entertain the public with gourds and accordingly, photography is encouraged. If a vendor does not wish to allow photography, the vendor will be responsible for posting a clearly visible sign noting such.
We offer a dinner on Friday and Saturday night open to all vendors, teachers, volunteers and general public. Pre registration is required. Friday's dinner is $10 per person. Saturday's dinner is a special local harvest dinner for $16 a person. All food served is grown within 30 miles from Imlay City. Come join in on all the fun and be a localvore!
We look forward to working with you and making this a great event for you, the customer and Children’s Hospital.
Thank you,
Ron and Deb Stallings
810-724-6135
* = required fields
Vendor Application
Send a completed, signed application along with payment to:
Michigan Festival of Gourds
6480 W. Imlay City Road
Imlay City, MI 48444
Dried, Ready-to-use Gourds = 
Green Gourds, Plants or Seeds = 
Gourd Tools, Supplies & Embellishments = 
Gourd Art for Sale or Gourd Groups = 
Other Products, Gifts or Art = 
Smuckers Gourd Farm
Eli and the girls will not be attending this year. We will have some of his quality gourds for sale.
Blue Whale Arts, LLC
Leah Reed
603-679-1961 or 603-734-5504
www.bluewhalearts.com
Leah Reed, owner of Blue Whale Arts is a self-taught artist and has been working with gourds since 2000 and understands what gourd artists from beginners to advanced are looking for in their tools and supplies.
Blue Whale Arts has over 1300 items in our inventory that we will be bringing to MI, which includes gourd saws, sanding systems, hand tools, inks, dyes, paints, clays, extensive line of manmade and natural botanicals, natural and dyed pine needles, and more. We are excited about our new lineup of Blue Whale Arts exclusive supplies we are rolling out in 2011.
Blue Whale Arts is unique as we offer customers the ability to try out tools before you make an investment. We provide hands-on help, and offer ongoing demonstrations based on customer request and new ideas on how to use different products and tools. In addition our display offers finished art pieces to inspire your creativity.
We are unable to bring our full line of supplies. Place an order at least two weeks before the show at www.bluewhalearts.com and we will have them available for you to pick up at our booth.
Quarry Farm Gourds
Anna Miller
419-257-2597
www.quarryfarmgourds.com
Seeds, plants and gourds. 60+ varieties of hard shells and ornamentals. Hand-pollinated seed to maintain pure strains. 80% minimum germination. growing instructions with each order. Wide variety of dried gourds available.
Gourds by Lucie Rhadigan Hiner
Lucie Rhadigan Hiner
810-664-5559
www.pasttensecountry.com
Clean, dried gourds. Painted, carved and sculpted gourds. Kits for do-it-yourself gourd projects. Lucie Rhadigan Hiner comes from a very artistic family. Her father, Rol Rhadigan, was a life-long commercial artist. Her brother, Floyd Rhadigan, is a nationally acclaimed woodcarver. Lucie has taught oil painting on Florida Educational Television, restored paintings for many museums, and has enjoyed painting in oil and acrylic for almost fifty years. Lucie currently works mostly with silk floral designs at her business, Past Tense Country Store in Lapeer, and her designs grace hundreds of homes and businesses throughout the area. Lucies current passion is gourds. She finds countless artistic possibilities using the gourds she and her family grow at Past Tense. Like all of Lucies work, her gourds and florals are truly unique.
Michigourders
www.michigourders.org
director@michigourders.org
A little about the Michigourders. We are a group of gourd artists who create, sell and do demonstrations of gourd art for educational programs. We want everyone to know just how marvelous a plain hard shelled gourd can become. By showing how we create the different works, we have introduced many people to the world of gourd art. One of the ways we improve our group is by increasing our knowledge about all things gourd. Several of our members took the American Gourd Society Master Judging class. Now we are not only qualified to judge at competitions but to teach this skill to other members of the AGS. So as experienced competitors and as judges, we are helping to put together the Michigan Festival of Gourds first competition. Our contribution to a wonderful event.
Russ and Debbie Olson
734-379-3529
deb544@yahoo.com
Chip carved gourds and so much more. New! gourd jewelry. Deb will be demonstrating chip carving in her booth. Russ has over a hundred of images carved into foam pumpkins for sale. Stop by and see how many of the famous images you can identify.
Burning Wood Art Treasures
Linda and Clyde Sales
989-389-BURN
www.angelfire.com/biz/woodburning
Welcome to the world of pyrographics, or wood burning. An artist from St. Helen Michigan, Linda Sales has been doing wood burning since about 1990 and is getting better as time goes by. She has been exhibiting her work at carving shows and art galleries for the past several years and as of January 2001 she has won 53 blue ribbons mostly in Michigan and Ohio. Her ribbons included "Best of Show" and "Best Wood Burning" to name a few. Many judges have commented that her burnings are the best they have ever seen. Her new passion is teaching her techniques of pyrography to those who want to learn. We have traveled to many states in the US. to carving clubs and colleges and enjoying every class. Select from the menu to the left to see photos of any particular subject matter. These are just a small sample of what she has done. If you have any questions or comments, please email to: lindawoodart@yahoo.com
Architectural Fantasies
Gary Bityk
Gary is a member of Michigan wood carvers association and the Michigourders. You will be amazed at his work on cottonwood bark and gourds. Stop by his booth and watch him demonstrate his craft.
Youth Karate-Ka Association
Dora and Jacky King
810-785-5505
YKA Harvesting Earth Educational Farm
Produce from their urban farm such as tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, lettuce, cabbage and gourds.
Farm Market Totes
Karen Sievertson
248-691-4550
www.pbphoto.zenfolio.com/farmmarkettotes
Apron Tote Bags. Appliques of gourds, flowers and vegetables decorate a functional tote bag/apron.
Herb and Ellie Schinzel
Gourd Artists offering painted and chip carved gourds.
Lynette Dawson and Margaret (Mug) Schroeder
Lynette: "Always wear your respirator while gourding" www.picturetrail.com/lynette
Gourd Classes in your home: www.thatcreativeplace.com
International award winning gourd artists Lynette Dawson and Margaret (Mug) Schroeder, will have gourds from the Utilitarian to Fine art to Show and Sell.
Saverine Creek Heirlooms
Debra Groat
989-879-1026
www.saverinecreek.com
Heirloom quality necklaces, earrings, bracelets, pendants, brooches, and more. Our unusual natural jewelry designs made from heirloom seed make unique green gifts.
Farmington Soap Works
Nadia Miranda and Robert Kuivenhoven
248-848-0058
www.farmingtonsoapworks.com
Farmington Soap Works creates unique, hand-cast cold process soaps, using only the finest tropical oils and selected ingredients, for a true one-of-a-kind soap. Our special blend of oils provides an exceptionally creamy lather and the colorful designs and exotic scents are sure to please. Some of our soaps incorporate ground up luffa gourd.
From the Forest
From the Forest is a family team of “creative elves” that carve, woodturn and woodburn unusual functional art from wood and gourds. Originality, artistry and balance are key ingredients in the beauty of each piece.
Mira Stefaniuk is a carver, pyrography artist, and writer who “writes with fire”. She incorporates intricate designs from her native Ukrainian folkcraft and nature into whimsical fairy plaques and houses, frames, photo and journal covers, Easter eggs, and assorted household items.
Roman Stefaniuk is a woodturner who uses recycled fallen trees, old fence posts and driftwood collected around Michigan to make vases, candlesticks, birdhouses, key chains, pens, salt & pepper shakers. For him, the best part of transforming aged wood into unique handcrafted items is allowing the wood to take on a life and shape of its own.
Marta Sobko, graphic designer, makes wood necklaces and jewelry in which each bead is individually woodburned, painted. Her designs are a modern adaptation of an ancient craft of ornamentation, rooted in a rich Ukranian heritage of embroidery, beading, pysanky (Easter eggs) and wood inlay.
Ghost Creek Gourds
Dickie and Linda Martin
2108 Ghost Creek Road
Laurens, S.C. 29360
864-682-5251
www.ghostcreekgourds.com
A family owned gourd farm in the Piedmont of South Carolina. We grow a variety of gourds which are cleaned and stored out of the weather.
Lucy Sheer
The Gourd Lady of Allenton
586-612-1066
gourdlady06@yahoo.com
A gourd artist that takes a "folk art" approach to gourds. Private and group lessons available.
Gourdology
Home grown gourds - transformed into art.
Ron and Deb Stallings
810-724-6135
www.gourdology.com
ATC Embroidery
Deerfield, MI
www.atcembroidery.com
ATC Embroidery is a family owned business for the last 8 years. We strive for quality and customer service. This will be our first year doing onsite shirts for the Michigan festival of Gourds and we are very excited about the designs that were developed especially for you! Shirts and sweatshirts will b e available onsite and also as preorders on our website! Visit our website to take a look at what we will have. Happy Gourding!
Lisa Evola Art
Lisa Evola
Almont, MI
Lisa is a multimedia artist working largely with gourds and pyrography. Nature is a central theme in her work in which she produces watercolors, prints, cards, OAK gourd art, woodburned leather and handmade purses, wallets, and coin holders. Special orders are also available upon request. Occasionally T-shirts will factor in too, as her day job is as the owner of ATC Embroidery and screen printing. Lisa will be attending the festival this year as an artist and also as the onsite producer of the Michigan Festival of Gourds T-shirts! Stop by and say Hi!
Brighter Melon
Oxford, MI
248-310-0690
Facebook Page
Come see Artist John Montgomery carve watermelons into amazing displays. Creativity at it's best. John will also be working with some gourds especially for our show.
Tandy Leather Factory
32524 West Warren Rd.
Westland, MI
734-422-9102
Store manager Rance Pope will be set up with leather dyes, conchos, leather straps, crystal rivets, and miscellaneous hardware.
Glorious Gourds
Crystal Lemmon
Wax Art Supply and Folk Impressions
248-757-2817
www.waxartsupply.com
Wax art pens (electric and traditional), waxes, dyes and other tools and supplies for wax arts on gourds. We are a Michigan manufacturer, wholesale distributor and retailer of specialized wax art products and supplies. Our tools and supplies lend themselves well to wax arts on gourds. We are looking forward to bringing our products to this market...particularly via a Michigan Festival.
RK Creations
Rhonda and Ken Porzadek
810-245-1596
www.buddistuff.com
We sell a variety of locally grown dried, clean gourds, specializing in ornamental and birdhouse gourds. We have natural made gourd centerpieces and wreaths as well as some painted gourds. We will also be offering some new painting books by various orders.
Special orders welcome any time of year.