While the highlight of the May 18 Jewish Food and Culture Fest is generally considered to be the food (duh!), over the past few years the fest’s market offerings have grown in stature. This year the Vendor Fair will include nearly two-dozen vendors plus the venerable Shuk market. The Shuk presents a small taste of Jerusalem’s famous outdoor market experience, and visitors will be able to stock up on a variety of complimentary treats and spice samples.
The Vendor Fair will showcase a number of area nonprofits and businesses, plus a variety of artisans including:
- Deerwood Pottery
- Charming miniatures of iconic Jewish foods (see image below) plus original art prints made by Joyfully Jewish
- African imports by SoulSistah 3.0
- Toby Klein Art
- High-quality themed party packages by Merriment Supply
- Glitter Girls, a business operated by an N.E. Miles Jewish Day School student that offers fairy and glitter hair styling
In addition, our culture booth will feature hamsa painting plus a few games that just might teach you a thing or two about Judaism:
- Picture that Holiday: players look at fun and festive images and race to guess which Jewish holiday they represent — be the first to buzz in and win!
- Oy Vocab: Test your Yiddish know-how as you hear a word and guess its meaning — laughs and surprises guaranteed in this language showdown!
- Name that Nosh: Look at a tasty Jewish dish and shout out which holiday it belongs to — play, learn, and get hungry while you’re at it!
See the full list of vendors along with brief descriptions.
Storied wood
One returning artisan is Greg Levy’s New Orleans-based NOLA Pens and their handcrafted wooden pens and mezuzot — the small parchment scrolls that are affixed to doorposts and that include the Hebrew words of the shema, or daily declaration of faith.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Greg recounts watching a number of oak trees unceremoniously carted off from a public park. He was sure there was a better way to dispose of such beautiful wood, and he got his chance when a large oak was felled by termites. Park staff gave him the tree, and Greg used it to make functional keepsake pens. He soon expanded his craft to include cypress and even mahogany from broken seats of the city’s iconic streetcars.
One day the wife of a local rabbi asked Greg if he could make decorative cases for mezuzot and he added the product to his lineup. He also crafts pens and mezuzahs from Bethlehem olivewood that was sustainably sourced from Holy Land groves.
