Sandpiper Art Festival offers art, entertainment, food
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POLSON — People call Larry Rosenau and say, “I’ve got a chunk of wood you might be interested in,” he said.
So he goes to look at it, or an arborist friend will save him interesting pieces or types of wood. That’s where he gets the raw materials for wooden bowls, bottle stoppers, rolling pins, turned lamps with spurs to activate the light, and many other wooden items he and partner John Gibbs make.
“It don’t matter — (the wood) will tell you kind of what it wants to be,” Rosenau said, when asked how he decides what to make.
Gibbs has been turning wood for going on six years, and Rosenau is on his fourth year of making wooden items.
Gibbs and Rosenau were first-time exhibitors at the 42nd annual Sandpiper Art Festival held on the Lake County Courthouse lawn on Aug. 10.
More than 80 exhibitors set up booths on the shady lawn, including food and drink and even ice cream cones and popcorn.
The crowd was so large that Dick Bratten and Sandy Ferrell ran out of huckleberry ice cream, but were still scooping chocolate and vanilla.
A six-foot plank marked in inches and feet — and finished beautifully — was another new item available at the festival. The idea is to mark children’s yearly growth spurts and birthdays and have a decorative item for a family that’s movable.
Doug Bunnell, his father and his uncle collaborated on his uncle’s idea. Doug’s father does most of the traveling to market the board, but both he and Doug were in Polson.
Some families embrace the memory board immediately “and would pay a $1,000 for it, even though it costs $70,” Doug said. “It’s all about the family.”
The show was juried, according to Paula Craft, so the quality of work was high. Craft said she was pleased with the turnout.
