READINGTON — A few artisans showing their handmade and nature-themed work sat nestled between the food vendors, giveaways and novelty items at the three-day 31st annual Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning.
With a tent full of handmade wares, Adar O?Hare and Andrew Welsh of Ripple Pottery trekked all the way from Rumney, N.H., for their first balloon festival. The whimsical mushrooms created by potter Brian O?Hare caught the eye of many attendees.
?Brian started doing the mushrooms as a joke in college,? said wife Adar O?Hare. ?He was a ceramics student, and he would make them and leave them in people?s yards. Eventually they tracked him down. So, he started selling them. That was 20 years ago. He?s been making them ever since.?
?He got in trouble and made a profit,? Welsh joked. ?It was an awesome prank, though.?
Adar O?Hare sees a rejuvenation in items made at home.
?There is a renewed focus on handmade items and those made closer to home,? she said. ?People are looking for handmade crafts again rather than mass-produced items.?
While many of Ripple Pottery?s items are useful, such as the mugs, bowls, earring or sponge holders on display, some, like the mushrooms, sold as a trio of small, medium and large, are purely decorative. All are done with Ripple Pottery?s original and unique glaze process.
?This is our own glaze,? Adar O?Hare said. ?We use three different glazes to get variations of colors.?
Branchburg?s Ed Vaeth of Neshanic Valley Beekeepers sees a tie-in to people?s desire to ?go green.? Selling organic local, domestic and international honey, Vaeth said the key is that the honey be raw ? unadulterated and unpasteurized. Also honey is especially good for people with allergies, sore throats and other health issues, as it acts as a soother.
?The nature of the honey itself in its raw form is what helps,? said Vaeth, who has hives in five counties throughout the state. ?It is recommended to take a teaspoon or tablespoon of honey before you go to bed. It should be at room temperature and not in a hot liquid.?
At the balloon festival, attendees could taste the various types of honey, including specialty honeys such as Florida Orange Blossom, Australian Eucalyptus, New Jersey Blueberry and New Jersey Japanese Bamboo. Some of the most popular flavors include New Jersey Wildflower, Central Jersey Mixed, New Jersey Dutch Clover Blossom and New York/New Jersey Golden Blossom, Vaeth said.
In keeping ?green,? Vaeth also prefers glass containers for his jars over plastic.
?It retains the honey?s natural flavor,? he said. ?And we would rather not add to the plastic waste factor.?
Staci Reiser and Bryan Murawski of Neptune started their jewelry business, Earth to Ocean, three years ago after their sea glass collection seemed to need a purpose.
?We would collect it, and the collection grew so big. I had so much of it,? Reiser said. ?I thought, I?ve got to do something with this. I always wanted to do something where I could be more creative, and this seemed to lend itself perfectly.?
?Everything we make comes out of the ocean,? Murawski said. ?The stones, metals and sea glass ? all of that is from the ocean.?
Now the two do about 70 crafts shows a year and show their beach-inspired wire-wrapped jewelry in a few stores up and down the Jersey Shore. This was their second year at the balloon festival.
?We still are at the beach all the time,? Reiser said. ?We practically live at the beach, and now we bring it with us wherever we go.?
The two said customers seem to appreciate the value of a handmade item.
?They also seem impressed when we make a custom piece on site,? Resier said.
One impressed customer was Jessica Webele of Ewing. Admiring the various necklaces, earrings and bracelets, Webele said they were ?simple but elegant.?
?I just love it,? she said. ?They have taken something so natural and organic and made it unique.?
As always, there were things to do and see for all ages. Throughout the day, Al Belmont of Belmont?s Festival of Magic did feats of prestidigitation and amazed children and adults alike. Belmont said that it was a magic show he saw at age 10 that piqued his interest.
?I got to see a great magician, Blackstone,? he said. ?I got up on stage, and he gave me a rabbit. Then he turned that rabbit into a box of candy. I went home and went to the library and got out a book on magic. I didn?t learn how to do that trick from the book. It took me 16 years to learn that trick, but I was hooked.?
Wendy Carnavale of Parlin, Angelina DeRisi, 9, of Broadheadsville, Pa., and Jill Bush of Fort Lee were very impressed with Belmont?s showmanship.
?I like how he turned the dog into a rabbit,? said DeRisi, while Carnavale thought Belmont?s ?Concert of the Rings? was exceptionally well done. Bush appreciated ?his enthusiasm? and how her whole family from grandchildren to her mother enjoyed the show.
Six-year-old Mackenzie Monto of Manville got in on the action and was brought up on stage to ?assist? with a trick.
?I was kinda scared, but I got used to it,? she said. ?But it was fun.?
For her bravery and help, Mackenzie was given a stuffed ?Bob? the dog, named after one of the live animals Belmont features in his show.
Randy Diakunczak of Edison was especially excited for the day?s events to unfold. While this was a first for his family of four (wife Jennifer and 4?-year-old twins Madison and Justin), as a young man, he performed at the festival, opening for the band America about 20 years ago with his band Shiver.
?I wanted to bring my kids to this for the longest time,? said Diakunczak, now a police officer at Kean University. ?I want them to do what I did growing up. This is a very good family event. My grandmother would bring me to this every year. I?ve always loved it, just love the balloons.?
There were a variety of fundraisers happening at the balloon festival as well. The Navy was in full force with four tents set up selling refreshments and drinks. The fundraiser featured active duty sailors volunteering their time to raise funds for junior members to attend the state?s October Navy Ball.
The festival concluded Sunday with a scheduled mass hot-air balloon ascension in the morning, concerts in the afternoon by R5 and Big & Rich, and a final ascension scheduled for the evening.
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