June 25, 2014 at 4:55 p.m.
Watermelon Days offers a refreshing good time
Watermelon Days offers a refreshing good time
By Kayla Thomason-
"The big thing about Watermelon Days is the free watermelons and people seem to like that and that's a big thing, but the arts and crafts are still a big part of the whole show," said Mac McCallin, owner of Mac Production.
There will be around 100 vendors selling their summertime goods such as fishing gear and tackle, furniture for cabins and decks, jewelry and purses, to name a few.
"I try to keep it mostly handmade products," McCallin said. "The art is always their art or if it's not it's their frames that they put them in or I try to qualify them in that something has to be kind of handmade, they have to make some of it."
Mary Steffen has been a vendor at Watermelon Days for so long she has lost track of how many times she has attended the event.
Steffen makes and sells American Girl doll clothes such as dresses, pants sets, capes, fancy dresses, shorts, soccer outfits, ballet and more.
"I've had people say that I'm very reasonably priced," Steffen said.
All her work is double-stitched. She also makes her own designs.
Her booth consists of three racks with three poles full of clothes.
Mark and Lori Tonn and their family are third and fourth generation weavers who own Grandma's Handmade Rag Rugs.
They have been selling their rugs at Watermelon Days for 10 years.
"We have looms that my grandma used when she was on the farm and she would make them out of old discarded clothes that were too bad to patch and then she would also sell them at flea markets," Mark Tonn said.
Although they are using 100-year-old looms, and make the rugs by hand, they have modernized by using newer types of materials, more vibrant colors, and selling at arts and crafts shows instead of flea markets.
They get a lot of material from a weaver distributor as well as discontinued bolts of cloth from clothing manufacturers.
The Tonns sort the materials by color, hand weave and use a sewing machine to finish off the rugs.
"It brings back a lot of memories for the people who are of the older generation but the younger generation they see them and kind of think 'hey the newer ones are brighter colors, they're the salvaged material. It's kind of a shaggier material so it kind of modernizes the rag rug, so they think they're cool too," he said.
Their rugs range from place-mat sized (14 by 20 inches) to 6 foot by 10 foot rugs. The also make hallway runners and custom-sized rugs.
"But the nice thing about our rugs is the standard width, the 5 foot and the 6 foot, that is standard but we can do whatever length you want so I mean if a 6-by-10 would fit better in your room we can make it a 6-by-10," Tonn said.
The sizes they sell a lot of are 5-by-7-foot and 6-by-9-foot rugs.
All their rugs are machine washable.
They have 13 looms of varying sizes or thread patterns and for their winter project they will be building a 10-foot loom.
Another vendor who will be at Watermelon Days is Steve Ullman. He has been selling Crushable Seagrass Hats - which are made by a gentleman in Florida - for five years.
Ullman strings the cords through each hat so they stay on your head in winds up to 35-40 miles an hour without needing to use the chin straps.
"The crushable part is actually the hat, it's made from seagrass so they're meant to be crushed up sideways so you can throw them into a suitcase or beach bag for 24 hours at a time max," Ullman said.
One style looks like a sunhat and the other looks like a cowboy hat.
They are available in three different dome sizes and come in all-natural seagrass color.
"Sea grass doesn't get brittle like straw or even sweet grass from the Carolinas, it stays soft always so that's what makes it crushable," Ullman said.
Ullman also sells scarves which are not made from seagrass.
Other things guests will find at Watermelon Days is flavorful food.
Food vendors will please the crowd with Greek and other ethnic delights, as well as a Wisconsin favorite, cheese curds.
Snacks such as kettle corn, fresh roasted almonds, and cotton candy will also be sold.
There will be musical entertainment and the event will be held regardless of the weather.
For more information call McCallin at (715) 675-6201 or visit http://macproductionllc. com.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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