LEETONIA Artisan's Festival to go on this year

Area police will offer child-identification fingerprinting.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LEETONIA -- Some of the names have changed, but the Leetonia Artisan's Festival will go on just the same.
The 20th annual festival will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Wick Park.
Jenn Valentine said that though the festival committee disbanded this year, she and other volunteers, including park board members, planned the event and will continue to be responsible for future festivals.
Valentine said former festival committee members Joann Murphy, Jody Ward and Ray and Pat Morelli are assisting the park board with the event planning.
She said proceeds from the annual event fund park improvement projects. The festival will also continue to have a harvest theme, she said.
Demonstrations, collectibles
Valentine said nearly 100 artisans and antiques and collectibles dealers have registered to participate. Artisans will demonstrate how to make pottery, glassware, wood crafts and woven items. Valentine said the antiques and collectibles dealers are participating for the first time this year, and park board members hope there will be more interest from those groups in the years ahead.
She said several of the artisans have participated in the festival from the beginning.
One of those is The Youngstown Weavers Guild. The group will show the stages of producing woolen items, including a sheep-shearing demonstration with primitive shears, she said.
Food and music
There will be food for sale, and musicians will entertain throughout the day.
Owners of antique and classic cars from 1976 or earlier are invited to participate in the car show throughout the day, she said. The cars will be parked along Walnut Street next to the park. At 4 p.m. there will be an auction of items donated by artists.
There will be pony rides and other activities for children, and area police will be on hand to fingerprint children and provide parents with child-identification kits, she said.
The police will be able to provide about 200 kits, she noted.
The park board wanted to provide some activities for children because many festival visitors bring their children to the park, she said.