One of greater Fairfield community’s favorite spring weekend attractions is back! The Bruce Museum’s 37th Annual Outdoor Crafts Festival will take place on Saturday and Sunday, May 21 and 22, 2022, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm each day.
Artisans from New England and the East Coast will travel to the Bruce Museum, bringing with them fine contemporary hand-made crafts in jewelry, wearable and decorative fiber, glass, furniture and housewares, pottery, and more – all available for purchase.
Admission to the Museum grounds is “Pay as You Wish” with a suggested donation of $10 per adult.
The Festival is free to Museum members and children younger than five years old.
Although not required, organizers encourage reservations; please visit brucemuseum.org,
or call 203-869-0376, ext. 311.
The Museum’s permanent natural history gallery, Natural Cycles Shape Our Land, is open during Festival hours. Attendees are welcome to experience these brand-new, interactive galleries featuring geology of our region, a paleontology gallery with a full-size Jurassic dinosaur recreation, live fish and freshwater animals, a woodland diorama, supersized bugs in our own backyards, and much more.
Suzanne Lio, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Bruce Museum, said in a release, “I am so delighted that we are carrying on our wonderful tradition of hosting the best and most inspiring craftspeople and artisans at the Bruce Museum. As an added bonus, visitors to the crafts Festival will have the opportunity to witness the swift progress we have made on the construction of the New Bruce addition.”
Due to the ongoing construction of the transformative New Bruce, this year’s Festival is limited to 40 juried artists. “Continuing a trend of recent years, wearables, jewelry, and other handcrafted accessories will be well represented,” said Sue Brown Gordon, the Museum’s Festival Director, who organizes the Museum’s two annual Outdoor Festivals.
“Festival-goers will be delighted by the painted silk tops from designer Heather Kidson of
Westwood, MA; hand-dyed scarfs from Patricia diSantis and Rich Borden of East Haddam, CT;
and the adorable baby and toddler clothes by Susan Pillay of New York City.”
Artists specializing in pottery include William Kidd of St. Petersburg, FL and Leigh Taylor Mickelson of Ossining, NY, who creates large sculptural clay pieces based on botanical shapes. Other artists, like Peter Jones of Camden, ME, offer functional pieces in stoneware and porcelain, such as platters, bowls, and mugs.
Festival parking is available in all public areas surrounding the Bruce, including Island Beach Parking lot, Steamboat Road, and Museum Drive, except for the Bruce Park playground. The Museum is also a short walk from the Metro-North Greenwich railroad station.
Entrance to the Outdoor Crafts Festival is via the Museum’s east parking lot, along Museum Drive.
Face masks are not required outdoors; indoors, facemasks are optional for vaccinated visitors.
Unvaccinated visitors are required to wear a face mask indoors.
The Festival is held rain or shine.
For more information about this year’s Crafts Festival exhibitors, please visit brucemuseum.org, or call 203-869-0376, ext. 311.