Chile Pepper Festival in Phoenix

Phoenix Chile festival

Chile Pepper Festival – The Vig

As far as I’m concerned, the annual Roosevelt Row Chile Pepper Festival is mostly an excuse to sample really delicious food from a bunch of Phoenix restaurants. The spicy selection includes items like tacos, stuffed chiles, donuts, desserts, and even beverages.

The next festival is this weekend, so here’s the scoop!

Chile Pepper Festival

How it Works

You buy the number of tasting tickets and/or beer tokens you want at a table near the entrance – there’s no admission cost. Then you wander around the different booths and trade tastings for one or two tickets each. There’s also live music and market areas.

Otro cafe booth at Chile Pepper Festival

Proceeds raised help support the Growhouse Community Garden’s urban agriculture and education programs.

Chile pepper festival

Last year, we went early, so we could go to Ballet Under the Stars afterwards. We bought our tasting tickets right as the festival opened, and there was practically no line. By the time we left, however, an hour or two in, a lot of people were waiting. Of course, it’s cooler later on. So…pick your battles, I guess.

Chile Pepper Festival – Stuffed jalapeño

Food + Drink

If you can’t eat spicy food, this is probably not the festival for you. I mean, you could just go and enjoy the live music. But all the tastings range from mildly to make-you-cry hot.

Chile pepper festival - welcome donuts

A few of our favorites:

Corn at chile festival

At one point, I was ready to douse the fire in my mouth, so I got a smoothie, which was deceptively sweet at first – then the sweet disappeared and the crazy burn kicked in. It was unexpected. Like the photobomb from the smoothie guy.

Chile Pepper Festival – Smoothie, donut, and photobomb

Although beverage-wise we stuck with water and a bottle of Mexican Coke (and that one mouth-searing smoothie), there’s also a beer garden and margarita station.

Chile Pepper Festival – Mama Chelo's art

Art, Craft + Community

On the market side of the festival, there were a handful of community and artist booths.

Chile Pepper Festival – artist Keisha Jones

I dug the collage work of the multitalented Keisha J. Jones, who also models and makes delicious baked goods!

Chile Pepper Festival – DIY seedling pot

Chile Pepper Festival – Valley Permaculture volunteer Kathy

At the Valley Permaculture Alliance (Trees Matter) booth, you could make newspaper seed-starter pots, which inspired a CraftHack project.

Chile Pepper Festival – Flamenco por la Vida

Entertainment

When the music started, we watched Flamenco por la Vida. They perform flamenco music and dance superbly.

Chile Pepper Festival – Flamenco

Some of their adorable pint-sized students danced, as well.

This Saturday, Flamenco por la Vida will be on stage at 9pm. I’m not sure if students will be joining them or if that’s past their bedtime.

There are several other performances during the festival, as well as cooking demonstrations and pepper-eating contests.

Chile Pepper Festival – Taco

The band Mariachi Luna de Mexico played after we’d left. In fact, they strode in like some kind of guitar-wielding posse, just as we were headed to the parking lot.

Chile pepper festival - mariachi


– Festival Info –

  • The 2016 Chile Pepper Festival will be Saturday, October 1 from 5-10pm.
  • New location: 128 E Roosevelt St, Phoenix (Roosevelt/2nd St.)
  • Limited street parking will be available.
  • Light rail: Central Ave & Roosevelt St. stop is only about a block away (0.1 mile)!
  • All-ages event. If you plan to drink alcohol, be ready to show your ID and get a wristband at the entry.
  • There is no admission fee. Food, beverages, and handcrafted items will be for sale.
  • Details at chilepepperfest.com.

Chile pepper festival

Southwest Maker Fest 2016

SWMF Chalk

Southwest Maker Fest on Saturday had interactive booths, workshops, stilt walkers, craft projects, artists at work, and all kinds of fun stuff.

SWMF

Since lunchtime was pretty hectic at downtown Mesa restaurants last year, a couple of food trucks were standing by: Burgers Amore (which I was introduced to at Fan Fest) and Queso Good (which I tried at Phoenix Comicon).

SWMF Food trucks

I wish I had gotten a shot of the inside of the IDEA Museum, where my workshop was (I had my hands full of craft supplies at the time), so you could see all the delightful creative chaos of the projects going on in there.

image

Upcycled Travel Journal Workshop

For my workshop, I made the project a little less open-ended this time, because too many possibilities can stress some people out.

SWMF travel journal workshop

I showed how to make travel journals out of 2 envelopes folded and bound together.

SWMF travel journal workshop
SWMF travel journal workshop

Some people chose to keep the books blank for their next trip. One attendee covered his pages with red tape; another wove plastic bags together using a plastic-yarn technique they were teaching at another booth and threaded that into her journal.

SWMF travel journal workshop

SWMF travel journal workshop

image

Both adults and kids got to have fun making stuff, and that was really the point.

SWMF travel journal workshop


Microblog Mondays: Write in your own space

Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival Wrap Up

The Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival is a 3-day expo focused on quilting and textile arts. It takes place in several western U.S. cities throughout the year with local vendors in each location adding variation to the pattern.

image

Backing Up

With 350 booths, the Phoenix event is actually the largest of the Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festivals.

It’s held annually at the Arizona State Fairgrounds with 2 exhibition buildings bursting at the seams with booths and a third dedicated to seminars.

image

I went last week with veteran of the festival and quilter/sewer/fabric crafter Cyndee (a.k.a. my mom) as my guide.

We arrived well before the 10am opening time, and there were already lines at the entrances. That’s because this is a tenacious crowd, unafraid to fight for a giveaway or stake out seats at a seminar or interrupt a demo until their questions get answered.

I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that quilters are scrappy.

image

The show program is available online (as well as onsite), so you could piece together your schedule ahead of time or just improvise when you get there.

We blocked out time to attend a seminar and spent most of the rest of the day threading our way through the crowds in the exhibition halls.

image

The Top of the Class

Seminars

Each day there are seminars on topics like quilt wall hanging, embellishment, and shortcuts, as well as some focused on specific products. They repeat at the same time each day of the festival, so you can catch everything you want to.

We went to a seminar called “Recycle It!” with Linda Winner of Winner Designs and sewing tool manufacturer Martelli Enterprises. She was a fun, engaging speaker, getting the class involved and moving quickly through a lot of projects.

image

She defined “recycling” really broadly to include using leftover fabric, and that’s what most of the seminar turned out to be about, but she did include some upcycling and repurposing tips too. The emphasis on using leftover fabric meant ample opportunity to plug her products. She’s designed some really useful-looking templates, but I just felt there was a bit more pitching than the topic warranted.

Again, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Someone whose job is selling tools for fabric is bound to have some bias.

image

Make and takes

Some exhibitors offer open make-and-take projects – needlepoint, Japanese braiding, a beaded fob to keep you from losing your scissors, etc. – with a small materials fee (usually $3-5). The one whose project we had planned to do had forgotten her materials, but we did see several other make-and-takes in progress. Since the exhibitor will probably be splitting time between instruction and running the booth, allow a little extra time for your project.

image

The Sandwich

Food at all the festivals comes from the fairgrounds or venue where they’re located.

In Phoenix’s case, that’s C and C Concessions, which has permanent operations at the Fairgrounds. Offerings included pizza, baked potatoes, roasted almonds, and flame-grilled burgers. Also, the ice cream stand sells sandwiches (like chicken salad. Not like ice cream sandwiches. Or quilt sandwiches.), salads, and some really good pita chips with red pepper hummus.

There are lots of picnic tables, and you also have the option to bring your own lunch.

image

Exhibitor Sampler

There were brands demonstrating sewing machines, longarm quilting machines, and furniture, as well as individual quilters and pattern makers selling their own work.

Of course, I’m always interested in the makers.

Many of the exhibitors we met not only had interesting work and a passion for what they do but were also friendly and happy to talk about it.

I shouldn’t be surprised when people surrounded by quilts are warm.

image

Some highlights:

Lauretta Crites is a pattern-maker and one half of A Couple of Old Broads, the company she runs with her friend Cindy Meyers. She showed us her handy cross-body bags made with a pattern you can customize to fit your stuff.

Quilt show booth

the-sampler.com had a super colorful booth with fabrics, patterns, and quilt kits.

image

Joyce Teng of TSC Designs had stamps, ink, and lots of shades of glitter. I associate stamps with paper crafting, but we also saw quilts with stamped designs at the show.

image

Gale and Carl Carlson, the couple behind Stitch in Time has spent years building relationships as far away as Thailand and Bali, bringing back textiles like intricately folded Thai appliqué and beautiful sari silk, which Gale incorporates into jackets. You can also buy the textiles separately for your own projects.

Thai textiles

image

Quilter Wayne Snyder of Bear Quilts does longarm quilting for Quilts of Valor, a volunteer organization that provides quilts for veterans. He also sells kits for quilters who want to piece together a quilt top that he can finish with the longarm.

image

Bob Miller makes custom beaded earrings with craft-themed charms (think tiny sewing machines or scissors) and steampunk jewelry.

image

Mary Fatula of Lumenaris designs tons of inventive felt kits for purses, pillows, coasters, cozies, decor, and perfectly adorable petit fours.

image

image

Pam and Tom Keenan of Pocket Change Fabric sell colorful handmade Mola shoes, Ghana baskets, quilts with bold designs, and fun fabrics.

image

image

The Splinters & Threads booth featured stacks of beautiful wooden printing blocks hand carved in India, as well as paints and quilting supplies.

image

This show is the only thing that Chuck and Karen Nolke will drive their RV out to Arizona for. He fires lightweight, one-of-a-kind porcelain pieces, and she makes them into jewelry.

image

image

Robin of Bird Brain Designs had a booth with full size and mini quilts with her funny “robinisms” expressions, lots of vintage sewing items, and even a purse made from a gourd. She just published Snow Happy: Whimsical Embroidery Designs to Mix and Match.

image

The Lacey Ladies of Arizona (chapter of the International Organization of Lace, Inc.)  was there working on beautiful bobbin lacework. They hold regular meetings for lacemakers and will be celebrating Lace Day this November.

Bobbin lace making

Tying Up

There are lots of great resources and inspiration at the festival for anyone who quilts or does any kind of fabric craft.

If you’re in Arizona and didn’t make the Phoenix show, the smaller, less-crowded Tucson show happens in November. Check quiltcraftsew.com for the full festival schedule.

image

We were guests of the Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival.

Open to creativity

About a dozen people of all ages showed up for my workshop at Southwest Maker Fest Saturday.

image

I talked a little about making minimalist travel journals that you can start during your trip. Then I gave everyone an envelope with odds and ends to represent what you might pick up on your travels — attraction flyers, paper scraps, coffee sleeves, Travelcraft Journal stickers, etc. Then I set them loose to create something that told the story of their day.

image

Because the room I was assigned to was in a children’s museum, some of the parents assumed it was a “kid thing” and were surprised when I handed them an envelope to create one too. Also, the open-endedness of the project freaked a few people out a bit at first.

image

But, by the end, everyone — kids and adults — really got creative and made some fabulous things. They journaled, they drew, some of them went outside the booklet format and got architectural, building things with their materials.

SWMF

I love seeing people open up to creativity.

image


Microblog Mondays