Summer Vegetables, Fresh Flowers, and Open Air Painting at Saturday's Riverwalk Market Fair

Fresh summer vegetables and flowers, music from a local singer/songwriter, and Plein Air painting will be featured this Saturday, August 17 at Northfield’s Riverwalk Market Fair. 

Seasonal Produce From Local Farmers, Artisan Foods, Art and Fine Craft

Summer produce season is in full swing.  Expect to find fresh flowers, kale, zucchini, summer squash, carrots, onions, broccoli, potatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, green beans, hot peppers, bell peppers, cabbage, and eggs grown by local farmers.  News on the tomato watch: both cherry tomatoes and large slicing tomatoes are here, so enjoy them while you can.  Artisan foods include a variety of fresh-baked breads, pastries, tarts and quiches from Ruthie’s Kitchen, Martha’s Eats and Treats, Crack of Dawn Artisan Breads, Rebecca’s Greek Kouzina, and Archibald Mills.  Maria’s Taco Hut serves freshly made and wholesome Mexican food.

Watercolors, photographs, handcrafted leather goods, ceramics, glass art, hand crafted accessories, and jewelry are among the art and fine crafts for sale.  (For a complete list of the vendors scheduled for this Saturday visit www.RiverwalkMarketFair.org.)

Featured Farmer: Ruthie’s Kitchen

Ruth Edstrom is at Riverwalk Market Fair bi-weekly, and spends her off weeks at the Midtown Farmers Market in Minneapolis.  Kolaches, rustic apple tarts, homemade caramels, and pumpernickel bread are a few of her regular treats.  The chokecherries for Ruthie’s homemade jam come from a farmer friend in North Dakota. Ruthie's garlic jam makes a tremendous hors d’oeuvres  served with cheese, and regularly sells out.

Featured Artists: Sharon Henry and Donna Eicher, Face Painting

Butterflies, Reindeer, Frogs.  With all the wild animal sightings at Riverwalk Market Fair you might think we had a zoo.  Or Halloween.  No, it’s artists Sharon Henry and Donna Eicher. Tell them what you want to be, or look through their book of photos for ideas.  It’s wild in there. 

Sharon and Donna met at a Northfield neighborhood block party two years ago.  Donna just moved to the neighborhood and they joined up for a face-painting booth.  Donna and Sharon embody the story of how working artists patch together an income.  Sharon paints seasonal designs on grocery store windows all over Minnesota and murals on building walls in Cannon Falls and Red Wing.  For years she was an assistant in a pottery studio, painting glaze slip and designs on pots before firing.  Donna worked for 25 years an assistant to a metal sculptor.  She began face-painting to help raise money for community causes.  Then she began to do some paid face-painting to finance the purchase of her art materials.  Both Donna and Sharon are sought after painters of theater scenery for the Northfield Arts Guild, Northfield High School, and Arcadia school. 

Plein Air Painting from Marsha Kitchel and Music by Kent Koester

            Marsha Kitchel, a past vendor and Riverwalk Market Fair favorite, will be finishing a painting of the view from Bridge Square during this Saturday’s Riverwalk Market Fair.  Marsha is known for her lovely images of downtown Northfield and of the Cannon River.  Come and watch the artist create a painting in real time.  http://northfield.artstown.us/profile/view/marsha-kitchel

According to Kent Koester’s mother he was born and then started singing. His first musical tour was with the Northfield Boys Choir and included singing for the President in the Rose Garden. Kent now plays with bands Hell Cat and Bits & Pieces in La Crosse WI, and his original band, The Ancestral Flaws. He is a songwriter and a published poet.  Kent will play some of his original songs at Riverwalk Market Fair on Saturday. 

About Riverwalk Market Fair