Summer festival brings arts* crafts'
By Heidi White
Staff Writer
For the past three or four years, Joyce and
Art Polley have taken part in remembering
Lincoln’s past in a creative way.
The Polleys, owners of Keepsake Creations,
ran one of several booths at the craft fair at the
sixth annual Haymarket Heydays this week
end.
They travel to Lincoln from Osceola for the
Heydays to sell crafts like quilted pillows, knick
knacks and log birdhouses.
“The Haymarket is fun because there’s so
much going on,” she said.
The three-day celebration had something for
everyone with craft booths, voter registrations,
wagon rides, a dog show and much more.
Teri Lindstrom Vosicky, marketing director
for the Downtown Lincoln Association — His
toric Haymarket district, said there were record
sales over the weekend for the pancake feed and
drinks at the dances.
“We had real great crowds, despite the heat,”
she said.
Vosicky said Haymarket Heydays is a way.
to reflect on Lincoln’s beeinnines. esDeciallv
the involvement of Burlington
Northern on the city’s growth and
development.
“It’s a way to keep in touch and
reflect,” she said.
Local restaurants — Valentino’s,
Runza and Papa John’s — along
with specialty vendors selling fun
nel cakes and com dogs, surrounded
the Hay market. Village Inn also par
ticipated by sponsoring a pie-eating
contest.
Performances were given through
out the weekend by groups includ
ing the Capitol City Cloggers and
many local bands, such as Baby
Jason and the Spankers. KFRX
broadcasted live from the event on
Saturday.
Joyce Polley said there is some
competition in selling crafts at the
Heydays.
“It’s kind of hard to come up with
new ideas,” Joyce said. “There’s so
many talented people.”
She said one idea she did have that
sold well was a plastic bag holder
made of cloth with a doll’s head on the top.
After retiring from the business of aerial
photography 10-years ago, the couple began
making crafts as a full-time business. She
worked eight to 10 hours a day cutting and
sewing and he made the birdhouses.
“I’m like a lot of people,” Joyce said. “I have
to have busy work. I’ve always knitted and
crocheted.”
Patty Fenstermacher, a music teacher from
Cozad was another craft merchant at Hay market
neyaays.
After finding out about the Heydays in a
Nebraska tourism book, Fenstermacher decided
to try selling her faux flower creations in a fair
for the first time. She usually sells them at open
houses in her home.
When making her crafts, she said she never
started out with something specific, she just let
something come out of it.
While Fenstermacher said she was having a
good time, she did have a bit of trouble keeping
her flowers on her table when breezes came
through.
“They aren’t made for wind,” she said.
Jabrisco, a Haymarket restaurant, partici
pated in the Heydays along with Lazio’s, a
neighboring restaurant with the same owner.
Scott Hall, a manager at Jabrisco, said the two
restaurants co-sponsored the beer booth at the
street dances held on Friday and Saturday nights.
Hall said he thinks the Heydays help bring in
new customers and more business to Jabrisco.
“We were definitely busier than usual and
busier than last year (during the Heydays), and
I’ve seen a lot of new faces in the dining room,”
Hall said.
Hall said he thought the Heydays were a
success this year.
“If s an exciting thing to be a part of and a lot
of people had a good time,” he said.
I Left: Dr. David Wood works on a model train during this weekend's
Haymarket Heydays. (Photo by Tanna Kinnaman)
Top: Liza Mendoza, instructor of the Zapatos Allegres, dances the bottle
dance Saturday afternoon. (Photo by Marni Speck)
I Above: Juliana Thompson uses an umbrella to beat the heat.
Temperatures for the Heydays remained in the 90's. (Photo by Tanna
Kinnaman)