by Noella Noelophile®
(Painting ©2018 by Tom Soltesz, and used with permission.)
Getting to Christmas shop by the beach is something special.
And the Muir Beach Holiday Arts Fair has been proving that for nearly 50 years.
This weekend, they’re just about to prove it again.
This year’s Muir Beach Holiday Arts Fair happens this Saturday and Sunday, December 1 and 2. And it’s a Christmastime tradition in the quaint town of Muir Beach, which is just over six miles from Mill Valley, in Northern California.
(Photo ©2018, Kasey Corbit, and used with permission.)
Started in the 1970s in by a community group that became the Muir Beach Quilters, the fair started in the best way: as a big community Christmas party! And according to their event website, this was an event created with three goals in mind: to raise money to build a community center, to give local artisans a place to showcase their creations, once annually…
…and to throw a big community Christmas party, of course!
(Photograph ©2018, Debra Allen, and used with permission.)
Local residents kept the tradition alive once the Muir Beach Quilters discontinued it, in 2013. And the Holiday Arts Fair’s 2018 edition will feature nearly 40 artisans from throughout the Bay Area. You’ll get to see hand-made pottery, wreaths, miniature wooden robots, ornaments crafted from both glass and wood, and gifts from the garden–and that’s just a partial selection.
(Photo ©2018 by Janet Tumpich Moore, and used with permission.)
At the Muir Beach Holiday Arts Fair, organizations that support the local community are given a free table. Look for the MBVFA, selling their logo clothing and hats, for kids and us “big kids”, to benefit the Fire Department.
Plus, the Muir Beach Quilters are going to display their best! The Holiday Arts Fair’s press release says they’ll have “quilts, dolls and scarves”. But I’m going to guess that sentence doesn’t come close to doing them justice!
(Photo ©2018, Julie Smith, and used with permission.)
In addition, the Fair gives next generation of crafters and artisans the opportunity to sell their work, at the Junior Artisans/Kids table.
Also, new this year, visitors to the Fair will get to experience glassblowing.
Want more? OK. During the Holiday Arts Fair, Muir Beach’s Cafe Q offers free coffee and tea for all attendees. They also have a balcony overlooking the ocean, for you to relax and get a good look at all the cool treasures you found!
(Photo ©MB Garden Club, and used with permission.)
And here’s a link to the Artist Gallery, if you’d like to look a little further beforehand. Many of the previous exhibiting artists will be back this year. (And I’m wishing I could run my hands over that gorgeous inlaid woodwork!)
The Muir Beach Holiday Arts Fair runs from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday, December 1, and 10 am to 4 pm on Sunday, December 2, at The Muir Beach Community Center, 19 Seascape Drive, southwest of Shoreline Highway. Admission is free.