Special Event

Street fair allows clients of DHS to sell art, crafts

Jewelry, rugs and a wide range of crafts will be sold at the Fall Food & Crafts Fair.
Jewelry, rugs and a wide range of crafts will be sold at the Fall Food & Crafts Fair.

On Friday, people walking around downtown Little Rock looking for lunch may stumble across what looks like a typical gathering of food trucks and art vendors.

But while the food trucks may be familiar, the artists at the Fall Food & Crafts Fair are anything but average.

Fall Food & Crafts Fair

11 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday, Main Street between Seventh and Eighth streets, Little Rock

Admission: free

(501) 683-0571, (501) 320-6028

They're all clients of the Department of Human Service's Developmental Disabilities Services division -- either residents of a DHS Human Development Center or clients at one of its community-based partner organizations. And they made the paintings, vases, rugs and birdhouses they sell.

"You'll never find a more excited vendor to sell you something," says Glenn Bolick, public information manager with DHS.

Developmental Disabilities Services Director Melissa Stone says the fair is "just another way of trying to raise awareness about the Human Development Centers in a positive way and support the clients that live there."

DHS has five Human Development Centers, residential facilities for people with intellectual disabilities across the state: in Warren, Booneville, Arkadelphia, Jonesboro and Conway. Each center offers creative work programs for the residents.

"They want to work," Stone says. "We try to come up with new, inventive things for them to get out and do that work. With the right kind of support, people with disabilities can flourish in a work environment, and it brings so much purpose to their life."

So, in Booneville, they make rugs. In Jonesboro, it's birdhouses. In Arkadelphia, Razorback banks.

Other people with disabilities who receive services through DHS waiver programs with community organizations such as Easter Seals and Independent Case Management make things too.

People with DHS wanted to find a way to get those products out to the public, a plan which would not only earn money for clients, but would give clients another way to interact with the community.

Rather than piggybacking on existing craft sales such as the Junior League of Little Rock's Holiday House or HarvestFest in Hillcrest, Stone says, "We thought, 'Let's just throw something ourselves and see how it goes.'"

So, last year, they closed off a section of Seventh Street near DHS headquarters. Four local food trucks served food and representatives from all five Human Development Centers and community-based programs came to set up booths.

The response far exceeded their expectations, Stone says. "We were bursting at the seams."

This year, they've doubled the space, closing a full block of Main Street between Seventh and Eighth Streets.

There will be more food trucks, including Count Porkula, Brown Sugar Bakeshop, Loblolly Creamery and Southern Gourmasian and, thanks to community gardens created by Americorps volunteers at each of the state's Human Development Centers, there will be fresh produce for sale.

They've also added an auction with celebrity auctioneers Rex Nelson of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Roger Scott of KABZ-FM, 103.7, "The Buzz." Artists who made items will be introduced before their piece is auctioned off.

"It's just giving them a little more public recognition," Stone says.

Bolick adds, "They'll be beaming over this because they're getting introduced."

This will also be the first year for the program's Christmas card project. Packets, each containing five cards, one from each of the Human Development Centers, can be ordered at the fair.

Some of the booths will be set up to accept credit cards, but some will take only cash or check. There is an ATM in the DHS headquarters lobby.

All craft sale proceeds will go to the makers.

The long-term goal is to start selling the pieces online but, for now, the fair is the primary way the clients and their efforts get recognition.

"These clients have a ton to add to our lives," Stone says. "[People can] see how loving they are and the amazing things they can do and how easy it is to appreciate them and brighten their day."

Weekend on 09/28/2017

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