Spring is quickly approaching meaning hibernation season is soon over and people are going to be out and about looking for things to do. We are excited to announce a brand new series of craft shows this summer! Paste and The Soulard Business Association are proud to present The Soulard Market Park Arts and Crafts Fair. An event featuring local artists as well as street performers, food vendors and live music. There are three event dates May 15, June 19, and July 17. The fair will take place in the Soulard Market Park located at the corner of 9th and Lafayette. Fair hours are from 9am-3pm.

We are excited about this fantastic opportunity to hold shows at the Soulard Market Park. We will be able to make the most of the large crowd that is already in attendance for the farmer’s market. We have also carefully chosen the fair dates to coincide with other happenings in Soulard that would draw additional crowds to the area. With a readily-available audience, tons of advertising and promotion planned for the fair – we are sure to be a huge success!

Each artist will be given a 12×12 space. The artists are required to bring their own tents, tables and display items. If there are more than two artists sharing a booth there will be an additional fee. There is a $5 non refundable application fee. Booth fees are $50 a space per event. Any artists who wishes to sign up for all three dates (and is accepted) will receive a discounted price of $30 for the last fair date. Payment must be made in full for all dates in which you are accepted no later than 14 days after the acceptance email. All items sold MUST be handmade! Application deadlines are April 15th .

May 15th is quickly approaching, so make sure you reserve your spots ASAP! If you have any questions please contact Katie at Paste. Application can be emailed or dropped off at Paste. Application fee must be postmarked no later than 5 days after you submit your application.

Sincerely,

Katie Shanahan

Paste
1009 Russell Blvd
St. Louis Mo 63104
(314)577-6930
pasteevents@gmail.com

The event started at 8am Saturday morning and continued until somewhere around 3am on Sunday.  The store was packed with food donated by local restaurants.  I foolishly bought food the night before thinking we would not have enough, and I couldn’t have been more wrong.  A Super thanks to Nadine’s Gin Joint, Ferraro’s Pizza, Soulard Coffee Garden and Carondelet Bakery for keeping the girls fed!

And now for the super big thanks… Thank you to all of the forty some people who came out to knit/crochet for St. Louis Children’s Hospital. And a special thanks to Holly from South City Studio for helping me plan the event.   We created over seventy pieces to be donated.  With all the ohhs and ahhs one would have thought we were holding a baby shower here at Paste.  From blankets and bibs to booties and burial gowns and even some pumpkin hats.  We had everyone ranging from beginner to expert.  The stuff is so cute I have to admit it’s going to be a little tough handing the boxes over.

What was most spectacular were the women who gave up their time on a Saturday to be here doing something for a good cause.  There was such a feeling of community all day long here at the store and I would be lying if I said it doesn’t make me a little teary thinking about it.

Since Needles for Newborns was such a success we’ve decided to launch a sorta-monthly series of gatherings at Paste for charity called Crafting With Purpose and have Needles be the big annual event. The next event will be on December 13 from 10-8 and will benefit The Haven of Grace, a shelter and rehabilitation center for homeless pregnant women and their children. In addition to needle artists, we’ve decided to invite the scrappy/card making folks as well. When you’re starting a new life, words of inspiration are important! I hope you will join us and bring your big hearts!

One million thanks for not only supporting this event but for supporting Paste.

Katie

We are teaming up with the owner of City Art Supply to bring you many of the items they offered in their store.  Packing one store inside another is a bit of a challenge so I thank all of you who have been dealing with my mess the past few days.  We have added a variety of products including acrylic paints, water colors, colored pencils, pastels, sketch books, inks, screen printing materials, pens, Sharpies, more glue than you could ever need, X-ACTO knives, oil paint supplies and tons more.  Please pass this information on to your artsy friends!  I look forward to seeing you all when you come check it out.  We look like a whole new Paste.

2010 Soulard Mardi Gras Poster Contest

Official Guidelines

This year’s prize package includes:

• $1,500 cash prize
• 2 VIP Passes to the Mayor’s Tent for Grand Parade Day
• 25 official posters
• 1 dozen official T-shirts
• $50.00 gift certificate to Paste

Contest will be held on Friday November 13th through Friday November 20th at Paste (1009 Russell, next to johnny’s in Soulard) in conjunction with the Soulard Saloon Safari Pub Crawl which will be held Saturday November 21st.  Winner of the Poster Contest will be announced at Paste at 2:00 on Saturday November 21st.

Final Size: 24″x30″ (please scale your submissions appropriately.)

Any reproduceable medium will be accepted. (painting, drawing, photography, digital media, collage, etc.)

Submitting artists can be of any age.

Adherence to the parade theme is not mandatory.

Any artist can submit as many entries as they like.

All submissions must include the words, “Soulard Mardi Gras”, the Soulard Star image and the festival dates: “January 6th – February 16th, 2010″

All artwork must be submitted no later than November 12th, 2009 and dropped off to Paste, 1009 Russell in Soulard.

Please feel free to direct any additional inquiries to soulardpostercontest@gmail.com.

If you’d like to see winners from previous years, please visit soulardframery.com.

Class Cost is $30 and includes supplies.  All you need to bring is your body!

Strange Folk Festival according to Holly

Holy gnomes and polka-dotted mushrooms Batman, Strange Folk is THIS weekend (September 26 & 27 from 10-6). This is going to be a totally awesome show. There will be more than 100 vendors representing a huge variety of crafty goodness. The festival will be located in O’Fallon, IL only 15 minutes from downtown St. Louis. In addition to the fabulous wares there will be live bands, a wine tasting, eco-conscious craft activities, a sandbox, petting zoo and lots of yummy food to eat. One of my favorite features of the event is The Upcycle Exchange. To participate, check out the online wish list and take advantage of a great excuse to clean out those closets! All donated items will go straight back in to the artist community to be upcycled into new stuff. How cool is that? I hope to see you there this weekend!

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Look for the Paste booth!  Girl Scouts selling cookies and free eco friendly crafts to wake up your creativity