What’s Blooming on Harrison 2024 – Lineup Announced! 🎶
Get ready to celebrate spring at the annual What’s Blooming on Harrison, happening RAIN OR SHINE on Saturday, May 18, 2024, in the vibrant Oak Park Arts District! From 11 AM to 7 PM, with our Beer Garden and Music Stage jamming out until 9 PM, this is an event you won’t want to miss.
Here’s what’s on tap for this year’s festival
Art & Craft Galore: Wander through over 120 booths featuring the best in local art, crafts, and small businesses at our Vendor Fair.
Live Music All Day: Our Music Stage is set with a full lineup of bands and solo acts ready to rock your socks off.
Feast Your Heart Out: Enjoy tasty food from local restaurants, food trucks, and vendors.
Cheers to Local Brews: Sip on craft beers from the renowned Kinslahger brewery in our Beer Garden.
Family Fun: Don’t miss the Kiddie Carnival with beloved rides, fun games, and fabulous prizes for the little ones.
Art Auction Extravaganza: Take part in our Art Auction where you can view and bid on stunning artworks from talented local artists.
Come out to support the Arts, Community, and the Oak Park Arts District. Bring your friends, family, and festive spirits to enjoy a day packed with entertainment, art, and community vibes.
Stage Lineup is Set
Check out the video below to get a feel for this fun and family-friendly fest!
Thank you to our Sponsors who make this Event Possible!
Oak Park’s Largest and Favorite Spring street festival is in Full Bloom!
Since 1999, Harrison Street between Humphrey and Culyer is transformed every May with Booths including an art fair, crafter booths, local business booths, food vendors, children’s carnival rides, an art auction, craft beer garden, and entertainment stage for the WHAT’S BLOOMING STREET FESTIVAL.
Showcase your Art, Talent or Business at the Vendor Fair
Unleash your creativity and shine bright at our Vendor Fair! Whether you’re an artist, maker, or a budding entrepreneur, this is your chance showcase your craft to a vibrant community of enthusiasts. We are now accepting Art Vendors, Food Vendors, Community Booths, and Art Auction Submissions for the What’s Blooming. Complete the form by Saturday, April 6, to be included in all the pre-event promotion.
Save the date and gather your friends and neighbors for What’s Blooming
Get ready to enjoy the Oak Park Arts District’s signature event with over 5000 people expected to attend. What’s Blooming is a day filled with amazing artisans and makers tents, fun, food, music, and good neighborhood vibes from 11 am to 7 pm.
As the sun goes down, the tunes crank up, and our craft beer garden keeps the good times flowing until 9 pm.
The Arts District was buzzing with YELLOW on Saturday as shoppers visited the many women-owned businesses in celebration of our 7th annual WOW event.
Celebrating Women’s History and Unique Women-Owned Businesses
Each year in March, the Oak Park Arts District celebrates Women’s History Month with their WOW! Women Owned Works event. Gail Coughlin, owner of Elevate Creative (321 Harrison Street) was inspired to start the event in 2017 after the Women’s March.
“I thought it would be a good opportunity to celebrate all the women-owned businesses in the arts district—the most of any business district in Oak Park,” said Gail. “It was not a happy time and I wanted to bring something positive to the neighborhood.” Yellow was chosen as the signature color for the event. “It’s happy and cheerful. It’s bright and attention-grabbing,” said Gail.
Event Highlights
Below are some highlights from the event that were captured by the Village of Oak Park and PickOakPark.
Bead in Hand Specialty Shop
Ceramics at Fifty Fifty-First Street Studio
Creative Art Therapists at Mosaic
Fine Art at Expressions Graphics
Arts and Jewelry at Purple Moon Studio
Delicious Pies at Happy Apple Pie Shop
Colorful Crafting at Dye Hard Yarns
Girl Scout Cookies at Laura Maychruk Real Estate
Create and Meditate at Natalie Walsh Design Studio
By Kelly Pollock, feature writer for The Buzz Cafe
What’s Blooming on Harrison has become Oak Park’s largest street festival. This year’s event is on Saturday, May 20, and runs from 11am to 7pm. The Craft Beer Garden and Main Stage will operate until 9pm. Presenting sponsors Byline Bank, Mosaic Counseling & Wellness, Oak Park Apartments, and Oak Park Bank will help ensure the festival’s success.
Started in 1999, the festival has grown and now includes an art fair, entertainment stage, craft beer garden, kiddie carnival, and silent auction. Over 100 booths will line Harrison Street from Humphrey to Highland. Among the vendors are several Oak Park Arts District businesses as well as other local artists, non-profit organizations, and commercial businesses.
Carey Carlock, the co-founder of presenting sponsor Mosaic Counseling & Wellness, had this to say about the event, “We will have members of our team meeting and greeting and chatting up mental wellness. We will have face painting and mental health awareness bracelets, stickers, and stress balls. … As an integrated therapy practice, we fervently believe in healing through the arts. We are proud to have four art therapists and two dance movement therapists on our team.”
The festival’s Main Stage will have various groups performing throughout the day. Described as a “wildflower bouquet of local musicians,” the stage will have family programming from 11am-2pm, followed by the School of Rock Show Team, Dozen Buzzin’ Cousins, David Singer, Summer Drive, and then headliner The Crombies at 7:45pm. “Get your dancing shoes on!” said Annette Coffee, the Oak Park Arts District Marketing Coordinator.
This year’s Beer Garden will have craft beer from Kinslahger Brewing Company. “We are thrilled to have Kinslahger beers at What’s Blooming this year. It’s awesome to have such an amazing brewery that is such a great neighbor!” said Trevor Toppen, festival committee member and owner of Val’s halla Records.
Food vendors will include Oak Park Arts District favorites Buzz Café, Mora Oak Park, Taco Mucho, The Happy Apple Pie Shop, and Trattoria 225. Other food options will be available too, including Babygold Barbecue and Candycopia.
For families, the kiddie carnival rides won’t disappoint. Tickets are $1.25 each or a book of 20 will be available for $22. Each ride costs three tickets. Although tickets are cash only, there will be an ATM available.
New this year is a silent auction that will be set up in the Oak Park Arts District Business Association tent. Items available include artwork from Steve Fischer, Karen Schuman, Janice Elkins, Kim Humphrey, Marion Sirefman, Ann Viernes, Ken Reif, and Mimi Comerford.
This year’s What’s Blooming poster features a rendering of an original piece called “Surrounded by Grace” by local artist Annette Zwierzchowski Donlin. The painting is a very personal one by Donlin that she created after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I turned to my art to help heal not only my body but also my spirit. [The painting] helped me understand that life is about moments and trying to really be present in the moment we are in. … I thought about all my ancestors, our Creator, all the positive energy I have around me. It was a creation of prayer for me; a meditation of optimism, beauty, and God’s grace … inviting all into my soul to help me heal,”said Donlin.
Festival committee member and local resident Mimi Comerford was thankful for the help of their volunteers, “So much goes into making this festival happen and we are grateful for all the help we get from our community. Without our volunteers we could never make this happen.”
Admission is free. For more information about What’s Blooming on Harrison, visit the Oak Park Arts District website at www.oakparkartsdistrict.com.
By Kelly Pollock, feature writer for The Buzz Cafe
It’s spring in the Oak Park Arts District! The weather is getting better every day and it’s the perfect season to check out some of these businesses that have opened in the last few years. If you haven’t been on Harrison Street in a while, you don’t know what you’re missing.
Valdo’s Barbershop
Valdo Leon first started barbering as a child when he cut his uncle’s hair in exchange for being allowed to take over the kitchen on Sundays. It’s been more than thirty years, but he finally realized his dream of having his own shop when Valdo’s Barbershop opened in September 2020 at 128 Harrison Street.
After years spent in the military, barbering, working for UPS, and then back to barbering, Valdo became fixated on opening his own barbershop. He took his wife’s advice and drove down Harrison Street one day after dropping his son off at school. “I started seeing multiple storefronts that were available and checked out each one to see what would best accommodate my needs. I hit 128 and thought, ‘This is it.’”
Valdo is known for his versatility and can manage anything from a basic gentleman’s cut to the tightest fade and graphics. And while many people tend to forget that esthetics are taught in barber school, Valdo believes that it’s time to highlight those services. “We’re losing that essence in modern barbering. People get caught up in being a chop shop. There are very few barbershops that offer pampering services.”
Purple Sun Arts
Ann Viernes recalls loving both science and art from a young age. “I can remember in kindergarten always wanting to paint on the easels, but I don’t think I ever actually did it. I was very, very shy. But all through school my two loves were science and art. The gifts I always got from my parents were things like a microscope or art supplies.”
Anne chose to study biology in college and worked at Rush University Medical Center for more than 30 years. After several years of retirement, Ann took a sabbatical to contemplate her next step. “I went up to my hometown of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, with all my painting supplies and stayed for ten days right by the lake. Then, when I returned, I was walking through the Arts District and I saw this space for lease and I thought, ‘This is it. I’m not in healthcare anymore. I’m an artist now.’”
Anne opened Purple Sun Arts at 142 Harrison Street in the fall of 2020. The name was inspired by her love of “purple sun glass.” In addition to her paintings, Ann makes jewelry and greeting cards. She also sells some of the vintage glassware and jewelry that she has collected for years.
Taco Mucho
As a child growing up in Indiana, Ron Aleman loved watching his mother and grandmothers in their own kitchens. After college at Purdue University, Ron worked in sales. But he had always really enjoyed cooking and was considering culinary school. It was the events of September 11, however, that gave him the push he needed. “Life is too short,” Ron told himself, eventually graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago. It took twenty years, but in August 2021, Ron opened his own restaurant, Taco Mucho, at 220 Harrison Street.
When asked what he hoped for for the business, Ron said, “We want to be a casual, neighborhood taqueria—a place parents can bring their kids and a casual date-night spot with great food and cocktails. We see Taco Mucho as an extension of our home and want you to feel like a guest when you come in to eat.”
The menu is focused on tacos that are all served on handmade corn tortillas. They also offer nachos, tortas, bowls, and quesadillas. Sides including “abuela’s” rice and beans round out the menu. Taco Mucho is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30am to 8:00pm and also offers carry-out and delivery.
Steve Fisher Arts
For years, Steve Fisher’s art studio had been in the basement of his home behind the Friendly Tap in Berwyn. “I’d been thinking of getting a dedicated studio space, and I finally said, ‘If not now, when?’” said Steve. “But I needed a place that was as quick to get to as my basement.” That “place” ended up being 301 Harrison Street where Steve opened shop in the fall of 2022.
Steve has been painting since he was a child and was particularly influenced by his family’s visits to the Art Institute of Chicago. He always liked the Impressionists, and then, in the mid-1960’s as he was about to start high school, Steve took in his first Picasso exhibition. “It was a wake-up call. I walked from one end of that show to the other and back again. From then on, my art was never really the same. Before, I had done the kind of art kids do to get a pat on the head. After, I went my own way. The experience opened doors for me.”
Steve compares his work as an artist to a physicist working on equations on a giant blackboard. “They start with a hypothesis and different ideas. But then things start to mesh. That’s what I do with my artwork; I push things around until my ideas crystallize.” While Steve uses his new space as a studio, he also plans to display a rotating collection of paintings that will be available for purchase and to have tie-ins with Arts District events.
By Kelly Pollock, feature writer for The Buzz Cafe
Bead in Hand, located at 145 Harrison Street in the Oak Park Arts District, has two reasons to celebrate this November: the kickoff of their 30th anniversary celebration year and the 10-year anniversary of Kim Humphrey owning the store.
As a child, Kim was taught to do things with her hands. She remembers being five years old and her mother sitting her at the sewing machine to practice stitching on paper. “My grandmother lived with us until her death. She was an artist and it was considered a valuable skill. I realized later in my life that not all families see it that way.” But it wasn’t until she was a mother with young children that Kim started beading. “I had little kids and I needed something that didn’t talk back and didn’t move and it really fit the bill,” she says with a laugh.
Although she can’t pinpoint the date, Kim thinks she started patronizing Bead in Hand within a few years of their 1993 opening. She took a few classes and was soon working at the store on weekends. As her kids got older, she was able to add more hours. When Doris Weinbaum, the then-owner, announced that she was planning to retire and wanted to sell the store, Kim worried what it might mean for her future. “I loved the shop, the customers, the beads, my job, all of it. I didn’t want that to change.” And so ten years ago, Kim took a leap of faith and purchased the store.
Kim is honest that being the owner of a small business has its challenges. “People today have so many ways of spending their money that I think it lessens the amount they have for any one place at any one time.” But Bead in Hand also has a unique market niche which draws people into the store. “It’s a tactile business. It’s so much more helpful for people to see the product in person before they buy. We’re one of very few bead stores in the area so we draw customers from all of Chicagoland.”
They can also offer more personalized service than a chain craft store. “It’s nice to be able to provide that service. To be able to explain to people what their options are. We aren’t just scanning items at a register. Most of our items don’t have a price tag so all our employees have to know our inventory and be able to answer questions.” Jewelry repair is another unique service that Bead in Hand offers. “There are very few places where you can take your favorite necklace from your grandmother and have it restrung,” says Kim.
Classes are one of the best ways to educate potential and current customers. Prospective students can view the current schedule and register for classes online. Classes are taught by Kim or by employee Kate Linne and include Basic Earring Design, Basic Stringing, Beginning Bead Weaving, Bead Embroidery, Knotting, and Kumihimo: Japanese Braiding. Classes vary in length from 1½-2½ hours and in cost from $35-45. Materials are generally not included.
Bead in Hand is kicking off their 30th anniversary year with special events throughout the month of November starting with a November 11 trunk show of semi-precious beads. On November 18, the staff jewelry show begins, and on November 25, the traditional snowflake ornament drop-in event returns for the first time since before the pandemic.
On October 11, Kim was honored by the Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce as a Community Titan “for championing the small business community … with might and ferocity.” The Community Titan Awards were presented to individuals this year in lieu of the traditional Spotlight Awards that focused on small businesses. The Titans were nominated via online submission and according to the Chamber of Commerce are “those who have worked tirelessly, relentlessly and whole-heartedly for the well-being of our business community. Their strong and wide shoulders support the rest of us to grow and flourish.”
Being a small business owner is a tremendous responsibility, but Kim is still passionate about the art she discovered almost 30 years ago. “One of the great things about beads is that it is a never-ending learning experience. You can string beads on wire, you can do bead weaving, you can embroider with beads. There are so many different ways to incorporate them that you are never really finished learning. There’s always something new. It’s amazing.”
Bead in Hand is located at 145 Harrison Street. They are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 11-6, Wednesday from 1-6, and Saturday from 10-5. They are closed on Sunday. They can be reached at 708-848-1761 or [email protected].