Tate Street Festival

By carolinianweb on September 21, 2016 • ( 1 )

Nikki Yopp and Jayda Brunson
Staff Writers

On Sept. 18, 2016 Tate Street was anything but calm. Residents of the Greensboro community flooded the street for food, local businesses and, of course, live music. The annual Tate Street Festival draws crowds from different walks of life to support the Greensboro economic community.

Local vendors on Tate Street even participated in the fun. Sisters on Tate, which is normally closed on Sundays, decided to open its doors for the festival.

Slices Pizza participated by hosting a special deal on slices of cheese pizza. While the businesses that are already on Tate Street took part in the festivities there were also plenty of other local vendors that came out for the day.

Additionally, the event allows for art and music vendors to showcase handmade jewelry, clothing designs, paintings, oils and musical instruments. There were a diverse mixture of Greensboro locals, as well as those from different cities looking to share their talents.

Among the many wellness stalls at the Tate Street Festival, was one that rang closer to home for many students. The UNCG Theatre Department, was hosting a table to inform the community about an upcoming play. “Caroline, or Change,” will be playing from Sept. 24-Oct. 9.

The film takes place in 1963, and is about a black maid, who is also a single mother, working for a white Jewish family. This film, that has been featured on Broadway, and will be in Taylor Theatre, and all information on showtimes and pricing can be found on the UNCG Theatre website.

Another featured UNCG vendor is Senior Drew Sinclair, a Apparel Product and Designs major.

Sinclair’s tent showcased her handmade scarves for the fall and winter along with dresses, shirts and skirts. She is in the UNCG Threads club and was one of the seven designers chosen out of many applicants for the annual Goodwill, “Rock the Runway,” a 2017 event taking place at the Empire Venue, this upcoming February. “This is my first festival,” said Sinclair, “I’m really enjoying it, and I’m glad I’m getting my stuff out here, because I’ve kinda been under the radar in the past.”

The festival was also fortunate to have Comic Con artist, Marshall Lakes — of Marshall Lakes Illustration — who has come to the Tate Street festival, after 10 years of absence at the event. Lakes does paintings of original characters, as well as paintings of characters who are already established, like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Batman.

Many of his original paintings have been featured downtown in a Winston Salem’s mural.

Another unique vendor was Gregory Musgrove’s Custom Guitars, which are popular locally for their custom and specialty six string, steel and string cigar box guitars.

One of the many small jewelry shops at the festival, Miso & Cleo, sells handcrafted, natural stone jewelry. Owner, Madeleine Mullane, makes all of the jewelry that they sell, and has been to many festivals in Kernersville and High Point, in addition to the Tate Street Festival.

The shop had a diverse selection of wire and stone bracelets and rings, as well as many beaded stone necklaces and flower crown designs. The jewelry they feature, is handmade, and displayed popular minerals such as amethyst; and was just recently placed in a store called, “Everyday Magic,” in downtown Durham.

Another tent featuring jewelry, was Ten Acre Trinkets, an Etsy shop owned by Jennifer Snow. The goods for her shop are created through upcycled items such as magnets, earrings and mosaics.

Another Etsy shop, Friend Stock, is a handmade Stationery Etsy stop, that, “Enables individuals with disabilities to express themselves creatively while sharing their unique creations in the community,” according to Olivia Krieble, who was manning the stand.

The most popular type of stand found at the Tate Street Festival this year, were apothecary stands. Two apothecary stalls that were present at the Tate Street Festival, were Salem Essentials and Apothecary, as well as Vesta Natural Apothecary.

Salem Essentials and Apothecary, or SEA, boasted sugar scrubs, soaps, body powders and bath bombs that are all cruelty free, and vegan. Co-Founder, Candace Kaufman, once worked in the pharmaceutical company, and was happy to explain why making products that are chemical free, is best for human bodies.

SEA also had many different testers available for people to smell in order to determine what scent they wanted to purchase. Among their most popular scents, are Sweet Tobacco and Southern Fig.

Vesta Natural Apothecary, had absolutely beautifully packaged soaps, healing salves, and humorously titled beard care kits. Immediately, the zombie repellent beard kit stood out for its unique packaging and style. The packaging for Vesta Natural Apothecary, indeed, stood out as a whole, and drew in a large crowd.

Close to Vesta, was Katlin’s Krafts, a handmade wood crafting shop. Artist, Katlin Johnson, carves and burns fantastic images of nature onto wood in order to create frames, jewelry and cigar boxes.

While many of the local businesses at the Tate Street Festival, were selling goods, doTerra International, was also giving things away. Their free hand massages and samples, were enough to draw a crowd in, but the uniqueness of the products, was enough to make the crowds stay.

George and Patti Hoyt refer to themselves as Wellness Advocates. The Hoyts were happy to inform people about all of the benefits of using essential oils.

The Hoyt’s’ mentioned the use of lavender, as a possible resource for helping to calm animals’ anxiety. At the stand, the Hoyt’s’ had a generous supply of hand sanitizer, essential oils, sugar scrubs and books with more information about essential oils.

Among the many products the Hoyt’s’ had available on their table, they also had information on free community essential oil classes. The classes available are: “I Have my Oils, Now What?’ on Sept. 22, “Essential Oils for Pets,” on September 24, “doTerra Business Opportunity Class,” on September 26 and “Intro to Essential Oils,” on September 26. One can receive more information on these classes, by contacting the Hoyt’s’ directly.

Of course, these businesses wouldn’t have nearly as much fun in the heat without music and food. There were bands and DJs playing music all day for the crowd at the Tate Street Festival, as well as food trucks at the festival to help people beat the heat with some icy creations. The Tate Street Festival will occur again in the Fall of 2017, and will feature a whole new group of food, music and craft vendors.