Vendors in the National Folk Festival’s Marketplace sell traditional arts. These arts are learned as part of the cultural life of a group of people whose members share a common ethnic heritage, language, religion, occupation or culturally united geographic region. Folk and traditional arts are shaped by a community’s aesthetics and values and are passed from generation to generation, most often within family and community through observation, conversation and practice.

Basketry

Dorothy Lawrence

The Basket Tree

Stratton, Maine

In northwestern Maine, guiding for sportsmen is a common occupation. Dorothy Lawrence makes woven backpacks for her three children – all Maine Guides – and for others to use camping, ice fishing and fly-fishing.

She learned the craft from other Maine basket makers and is teaching it to her daughter and granddaughter. She fashions traditional Maine Northwest Mountain work baskets.

Herbal arts

Natalia Bragg

Knot II Bragg Farm

Wade, Maine

Natalia Bragg’s family has been making herbal remedies for six generations. Some of her family’s medicinal plant treatments include Old Log Drivers Arthritic Formula, Balm of Gilead Healing Salve, Sweet Birch Complexion Cream and Stinky Feet Soap. She helped found the Aroostook County Herb Association and has been a practicing herbalist for more than 30 years.

Betsey-Ann Golon

Common Folk Herb Farm

Naples, Maine

Growing up in Maine, Betsey-Ann Golon enjoyed working with her father in the family garden and learned about medicinal plants from her grandmother. She has created a business out of her hobby, producing herbal teas from her home and working in the nearby Shaker community.

Janet Edwards

Mountain Mama of Maine

Anson, Maine

Janet Edwards cultivates and collects herbs to make her line of personal care products.

Sandra Hare

Naturally Bee-Ewe-tiful

Houlton, Maine

A fourth-generation herbalist of French Canadian descent, Sandra Hare makes beeswax-based, herb-infused soaps and lotions.

A nurse and gardener, she uses family recipes as well as ones she develops in her own kitchen.

Mary Mondello

Maine Coast Herbals

Milbridge and Corinth, Maine

From a young age, Mary Mondello learned to make home remedies from her grandmother. She cultivates diverse organic herbs in her greenhouses and gardens. She is a certified herbalist and prepares and sells herbal teas, tinctures, salves and facial creams.

Traditional American Indian arts

Maine’s native people – Micmac, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot – present traditional woodcarving, basket making and beadwork.

Stanley Sayers

Micmac Indian Crafts

Jonesport, Maine

Stanley Sayers grew up in Canada’s Shubenacadie Tribe, where traditional art skills were passed down through generations by watching elders. Today, Sayers makes and sells traditional Micmac Indian crafts, including turtle clocks and bags, horn rattles and jewelry.

Jean Seronde

Native Arts Gallery

Bar Harbor, Maine

Growing up in Arizona, Jean Seronde learned to make traditional Navajo-style jewelry by watching his mother.

He came to Maine as a seasonal resident of Mount Desert Island and has made the island his home.

Knitted items and yarns

Lynn Winters

Ash Grove Spinning & Knitting

Sebec, Maine

Lynn Winters grew up in a family where hands never were idle. She learned to knit at age 10 and has learned how to “full” items from the wool of her own small flock of Romney Lincoln sheep. Fulling is a process that brings fibers tightly together. Winters makes mittens in the traditional style of Atlantic Canada. She belongs to the Maine Spinners Registry and Maine Fiberarts.

Paula Farrar

Done Roving Farm and Carding Mill

Charlotte, Maine

Paula Farrar was raised in Maine’s Washington County, where she learned to knit at age 5 from her eldest sister. Today she knits hats, mittens and sweaters, braids rugs and makes jackets, vests, blankets, wall hangings and quilts from the fleece of her family’s sheep and from mohair, alpaca and llama wool. She opened her Fiber Studio and Learning Center at her farm to teach others about her craft.

Beeuw Van Kuijeren

Vermeer’s Lace & Fiber Studio

Stetson, Maine

Beeuw Van Kuijeren immigrated to Maine from her home in Delft, Netherlands, where her mother taught her to knit, crochet and embroider at age 6. Her father used to spin the yarn from his brothers’ sheep, and her mother and grandmother would make items to keep the family warm. Today she lives in Stetson and owns a small business where she sells her knitted goods.

Quilts

Nora Flanagan

Nora Flanagan Quilts

Lincolnville Center, Maine

Nora Flanagan loves color, which is reflected in her decorative quilts and pillows. She was inspired to quilt more than 30 years ago by her grandmother who also practiced the craft. She makes quilts that not only are functional but also serve as records of special events.

Ginger Phelps and Gabriella D’Italia

The Spring Street Co.

Newport, Maine

Ginger Phelps learned quilting from a relative in Southwest Harbor and passed on her knowledge to Gabriella D’Italia. Gabriella was educated at Boston’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts. The two have worked on projects together for several years. Phelps is the resident costume maker at Penobscot Theatre. D’Italia and Phelps make quilts that combine old and new styles.

Lace and tied jewelry

Mildred Crocker

Lee, Maine

Artisan Mildred Crocker says tatting, a form of lacework similar to crochet, is becoming a lost art. In recent years, she has taught both needle tatting and shuttle tatting to help ensure the tradition survives.

Rosemarie DiLernia

Hand-Knotted Linen Jewelry

Brooks, Maine

Rosemarie DiLernia learned how to tie nautical knots from her father, a sailor in the U.S. Navy. She took that skill and turned it into a professional career tying knots and fashioning watchbands and other decorative pieces.

Rugs

John J. Halloran

Braided Works

Glenburn, Maine

John J. Halloran has been braiding rugs for more than 25 years. He uses woolens from Maine’s only surviving woolen mill in Oxford. His braided rugs are traditional in style. He passes on his skills through rug-braiding classes in Greater Bangor.

Pottery

Susan E.A. Dickson-Smith

Proper Clay Stoneware

Gouldsboro, Maine

Susan Dickson-Smith, a native of southwestern Maine, learned her art as a girl in an area with a vibrant crafts tradition. After graduating from college, Dickson-Smith apprenticed with April Adams of Columbia Falls Pottery. She now is passing her skills on to the next generation by teaching children in her family.

Wirecraft jewelry

Terrence C. Williamson

Appalachian Resources Inc.

Hampden, Maine

Terrence C. Williamson worked for 30 years in mineral exploration in the Eastern United States and Canada. Later in life, his artisan mother encouraged him to try his hand at making jewelry. His pieces are made with sterling silver, gold-filled wire and Maine gemstones. The jewelry is solderless and is made with simple hand tools, including pliers, cutters, and hammers.

Stained glass

Mark Wren

Wrenovations Stained Glass Creations

Robbinston, Maine

Mark Wren always loved stained glass and learned to create it as an offshoot to his occupations as a millwright and a carpenter. He began making stained-glass pieces as gifts and later turned his hobby into a business. He also serves as a mentor, demonstrating the art of stained glass.

Hardwood furniture

Jim and Linda Leach

Fine Pine Designs

Bangor, Maine

Jim and Linda Leach have been making finished hardwood furniture for more than 15 years. Both are self-taught woodworkers who take great pride in the quality of their work created by hand and machine tooling. A clear oil finish brings out the rich beauty of the wood. The Leaches intend to pass their craft on to their grandchildren.

Woodcarving

Jeff Peterson

Peterson Woodworking

Harrison, Maine

Jeff Peterson learned traditional Swedish woodcarving from his family. He is a carpenter by trade and a woodworker since childhood. He makes pickle forks for pickled herring and ladles for rice pudding for his family’s annual holiday smorgasbord. He also makes wooden spoons, rolling pins and dough bowls.

Leslie Smith

Smitty’s Custom Made Turkey and Game Calls

Bradford, Maine

Leslie Smith makes wooden box-style turkey calls. He designs each unique call and constructs it out of native Maine wood. A carpenter and cabinetmaker by trade, his interest in making calls stems from his lifelong love of hunting.

Edward M. Harrow

Norumbega Woodcarvers

Eddington, Maine

Edward M. Harrow and his group are experienced carpenters, sign painters, craftspeople and furniture makers who have turned their skills to carving wildlife-inspired works of art. Norumbega Woodcarvers specializes in making traditional Maine duck and fish decoys, as well as flora- and fauna-inspired pieces.

Laurie and Fern Stearns

Farm Fertilized

Milford, Maine

Laurie Stearns grew up in the northern Maine woods. She learned how to carve wood from her father. She has had her own business for more than five years and has a special skill for re-creating Maine wildflowers in wood.

Ralph and Deen Hicks

Island Intarsia

Eastport, Maine

Ralph and Deen Hicks create wood artwork inlays of Maine birds, animals and scenes using contrasting woods to give a three-dimensional appearance. This craft is called Intarsia. Ralph learned woodworking as a child and still uses some of his father’s tools.

Lisa and Timothy Falvey

Forever Yours Fine Woodcrafters

Orrington, Maine

Lisa and Timothy Falvey create bowls, frames and other home furnishings from wood they harvest and mill themselves using traditional tools. They have been working at their craft for more than 30 years.

Alan and Vicki Stevens

Stevens Nets

Patten, Maine

Alan and Vicki Stevens handcraft wooden landing nets for fishing. Alan enjoys hunting, fishing and archery, and has received national recognition for his black-powder shooting.

Leatherwork

Bob and Anne Dickens

Leatherworkers

Ellsworth, Maine

Bob and Anne Dickens have been in the leather business for years. He got his start working at cobblers in Hancock County. The Dickenses have worked for more than two decades producing leather bags, belts, sheepskin slippers and other items.

Kevin Shorey

Quoddy Trail Moccasin Co.

Perry, Maine

Kevin Shorey makes handmade moccasins, slippers, and shoes. He is a fourth-generation moccasin maker who still cuts the leather and sews it using an awl and two needles. Some of his leather dyes date from the 1900s.

Antler art

Ed Croy

Art Designs from Moose Horn and Deer Antler Sheds

Oakfield, Maine

At 58, Ed Croy discovered that he had a talent for carving. He uses moose and deer antlers to create pieces ranging from lamps to cribbage boards. He says the trick is finding the antlers before other animals such as bears and porcupines gnaw and disfigure them.

Specialty foods

Betty Maker

Blueberry Bliss

Jonesboro, Maine

For more than 30 years, Betty Maker and her family have participated in the annual blueberry harvest in Down East Maine. With the fresh fruit, Maker makes savory blueberry jams, jellies, toppings and syrup. Founded nine years ago, Blueberry Bliss can be found in places such as the Blaine House, the Maine governor’s residence in Augusta.

Martha Hunt

Martha’s Fudge

Augusta, Maine

Martha Hunt learned to make fudge from her mother at age 5. She has since developed more 20 flavors of the popular sweet.

John and Laurie Kelley

Jack’s Gourmet

North Yarmouth, Maine

A chef for more than 30 years, John makes traditional jams and pickles as well as his unique hot pepper products. Laurie makes quilts related to their food products.

Wilma Stanchfield

Stanchfield Farm

Milo, Maine

As a child growing up on a farm, Wilma Stanchfield learned the tradition of canning food. Moving to Maine in the mid-1970s, she purchased a farm in Milo, where she produces many of the vegetables and seasonings used in her pickles, jams, jellies and other products.

Everett and Lee Worcester

Worcester’s Wild Blueberries

Orneville, Maine

In Orneville, Everett and Lee Worcester cultivate 35 to 40 acres of wild low-bush blueberries. Regulars at the Bangor-Brewer and Orono farmers markets, the Worcesters also sell their blueberries in pint- and quart-size packages at numerous local stores and from a roadside stand near their home.