Makanda shows off local flair at annual spring festival

MAKANDA- Allan Stuck carried in his right hand a piece of mud while five onlookers held on to his every word. The dirt pile, found near Lick Creek, was a piece of excavation with a burrowing sea anemone located inside. "Kind of like what Nemo lives in, right?" asked Helen Padilla of Fairmont City, referring to the 2003 Disney fish film.

She then laughed and said, "You could tell I like 'Finding Nemo,' can't you?" Padilla was just one of the many visitors to Makanda this weekend. Thousands of people from all over the country pour into the village every May for the annual spring festival, which features local bands and artists.

Makanda Spring Fest 2005 had a variety of vendors and entertainers, including works by glass blowers and basket weavers, a massage therapist and a magician who would randomly perform tricks to people in the crowd. Local bands Coal Train, The Woodbox Gang and Lyric were among the performers who provided the festival with live music.

Event coordinator Phil Beck, who is also the owner of Clear Creek Candles on the Makanda Boardwalk, said he was very pleased with the turnout of this year's Makanda Fest.

"At this point now, it's a tradition," Beck said. "We have had some type of festival at the end of spring for nearly 17 years. People just kind of expect it now. It's built up that kind of momentum."

Lynn Wolff of Makanda sold candles as a fund-raiser for the Michael Wolff Memorial Wetland Foundation. The money raised will help restore and develop 95 acres of wetland in the Cache River in memory of Lynn Wolff's son, an SIUC alumnus who died of cancer in April 2004.

The candles Wolff was selling were part of a larger campaign, Cathy's Candles 4 Kids & More. This organization raises funds for childhood cancer research. The candle store was started in memory of Sabrina Bolton, who died in 2003. Wolff, a retired SIUC faculty member in the College of Education and Human Services, said her son's wife, Jennifer, created a candle, Michael's Morning Rain Shower, for the candle store.

"There's a story for every candle," Wolff said. "Either of someone's current battle with cancer or in memory of someone who was lost. It gives us focus to carry on his legacy."

Stuck, who is a goldsmith, designer and craftsman, said the festival used to be called Makanda Days and has since blossomed into an annual mainstay. "Before the artistic community came in, it didn't have the type of charisma that it has now," Stuck said.

Through working at the festival, Wolff said she has met several people and has been able to restore relationships with former students. On Saturday, Wolff chatted with a group of women from Wichita State who had come to shop the morning before the baseball game against SIUC.

Makanda Fest also attracted vendors from outside the region. Jackie Hinz of Belleville, Chris Stricker of O'Fallon and Elizabeth Kassly of Swansea all shared the same corners under a tent outside the Boardwalk. Each had her own talent to display. Hinz painted gourds, Stricker made bracelets, and Kassly created bookmarks and jewelry.

A lover of archaeology, Kassly works as a field technician. She said she looks for anything she thinks children may like to have. For her bookmarks in particular, she collects a variety of different items, including everything from knickknacks in local chain stores to stones found in the Mississippi River and seashells from the Sanibel Islands in Florida.

"I want to create something whimsical for kids to have," Kassly said. "Something they'd want to have." Both Hinz and Stricker came last year and wanted to come back to touch base with the people they had met.

"It's nice to come to a town that is not pretentious," Stricker said. "I work at a mall, and too often I see people who are too cookie cutter. Not here. People do their own thing. It's groovy."

Jan York is the owner of Visions, which is also located on the Boardwalk. York, who helped organize this year's event, said the festival has a quality about it that is unmatched by any other. "It is the overall atmosphere," York said. "It's upbeat, and everybody seems to have a good time. Plus, we get to show them the uniqueness of Makanda."