Reflections on 40+ years exhibiting at St. Peter’s Art Show

St. Peter's Art Show began the summer of 1966, when I had just graduated from Milton High School and was on my way to college. I don't think I exhibited at the show until the early 1980s, but it was my very first and most beloved outdoor art event.

 

The show and the people who have run it over many years have exhibited the most treasured, admirable and old-fashioned values of any art show I have ever attended. The organizers keep thinking of every amenity and comfort for the exhibitors, adjusting to changes over the years.

 

I don't like driving to and parking in Lewes by myself anymore, so now I implore my husband Jeff to wake up at dawn and drive me there to unload my wares. Then he drives back home and returns in the afternoon to enjoy the event with me. "You don't have to be there that early, do you?” he asked. "There will already be a city of tents set up by then,” I replied. Volunteers also serve coffee, juice, bagels and blueberry muffins to the vendors.

 

Speaking of tents, I have never had one until the last couple years. I give thanks for the kindness of the show's organizers, Jeff Whipple and Scott Samples, who put up one of theirs for me. All art show days before this, people asked me why I didn't have a tent, or even wear a hat. I don't like hats (they make me hot) even though I took a straw one with a headband of African animals and tried to wear it. I even made a headband for the hat that said "I don't have a tent.” I put on sunscreen. I would answer queries with, "I'm from a hot planet!" Now, thanks to Jeff and Scott, I fear neither sun nor rain.

 

Over the years, there have been mostly sunny days. Scott and Jeff told me in the early days the show’s planners consulted the weather service and were told that the first week of July had the lowest chance of rain for the month. The show date has remained the first Saturday in July, usually during a long holiday weekend.

 

There have been intermittent sprinkles, and one time my neighbor told me that the fleeting opening of the skies was "the devil beating his wife." In the early years, a veteran church lady, Ruth McIntyre, ran the show. One year it did rain heavily in the morning, and we had to ferry our wares to the Presbyterian church a couple of blocks away. Ruth couldn't get over the way I shlepped my whole exhibit, including tables, paintings and a heavy sandwich board that my mother made. She always treated me with special fondness after that.

 

The early clothesline setup evolved to tents. The first show I attended in the early 1980s just circled the church grounds and cost $20 per space to exhibit, first-come, first-served and payable on the day of setup. I woke up in my smokehouse apartment loft down on Pilottown Road around 8 or 9 a.m. and moseyed down the street, not realizing how popular the venue was, but feeling lucky I scored a spot.

 

Locally famous artists Jack Lewis and Howard Schroeder held spots at the front gate of the church. Both were always very kind to me and seemed to believe in me. I later got one of the spots at the front gate and kept it for years. Now I’ve moved close by, still in front, under my new tent.

 

A turkey salad lunch used to be held inside the church hall, and now a silent auction benefits church charities. Proceeds from snack concessions help support the Little Cupboard, St. Peter’s self-service food pantry located along the fence between the church and parish hall on Second Street. Every year, three featured artists participate in the raffle, with proceeds benefiting the church’s St. Cecilia Music Guild, best known for presenting classical, vocal, jazz, organ and choral concerts for public enjoyment, free of charge.

 

The show this year will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, July 5. Around 130 arts and crafts exhibitors will surround the church grounds. There is plenty of parking at Cape Henlopen High School on Kings Highway, with a shuttle to the art show.

 

A couple of years ago, watercolorist Doris Ingram and I were greeted with signs that thanked us for being in the show for 40-plus years. I think we both are now the longest-exhibiting artists. Doris can still fit into the same red shorts she wore 40 years ago!

 

The only year I have missed was when my twin boys were born July 8, 1986.  Look for me again this year — at age 77 — in front of the church under my borrowed tent. I will be there, rain or shine!