Willowtown Spring Fair

Willowtown’s big event of the year is soon here–our 2010 Spring Fair on Saturday, May 15, from 11:30 to 5 the full length of Willow Place.

The fair this year is dedicated to “Willowtown Visionaries” Joe and Mary Merz, architects of 48 Willow Place. They have given more than 45 years of distinguished service to making our community the great place that we are proud to call home.

A new feature of the 2010 fair is “It’s My Park Day.” The “my” is our Palmetto Playground at State Street and Columbia Place where volunteers will be at work beautifying the planting areas in cooperation with Partnership for Parks, a joint program of the city’s Parks Foundation and Department of Parks & Recreation.

Please mark the fair on your calendars and get involved in it. Here are six ways:

  1. Be a fair sponsor.

    Please make a contribution of $25 or more to the 57-year-old Willowtown Association and thereby become a fair sponsor. Contributions are tax-deductible. You’ll be listed in the fair journal. This money is used to support our mission of “addressing issues impacting the quality of life for the residents and serving as their collective voice and advocate” and such neighborhood entities as the Palmetto Playground, Mickel’s Garden and the A.T. White Community Center.

    Make checks payable to the Willowtown Association and send them to the fair’s general coordinators as indicated below.

  2. Place an ad in the fair journal.

    The 2010 fair journal will again feature the Willowtown Walking Tour Guide available to all who attend. The guide notes the many historic features of our unique neighborhood. The journal will carry ads. If you have a business or service or would like simply to convey a message such as to Joe and Mary Merz or an “In Memoriam” for a neighbor, please buy an ad. Special full-page ads are $100; standard full-page ads, $80; and half-page ads, $40. Again, the cost is tax-deductible.

    You can get more details about the ads by contacting Linda De Rosa. Place ads by May 3 with either of the general coordinators. Make checks payable to the Willowtown Association.

  3. Contribute an item for the silent auction.

    The fair will again include a silent auction to which residents are asked to make donations of theater tickets, services such as interior design consultation or babysitting, stays in second homes, merchandise such as wine, collectibles, haute cuisine and items for children.

    Please indicate your donations again by contacting either of the fair’s general coordinators.

  4. Set up a boutique table or sponsor one.

    Our hope this year is to increase the number of boutique tables offering secondhand articles that you donate, antiques, books, records, artwork, plants, baked goods, an advocacy cause and any other possibility you may think of. The fee for a table selling something is $25 and for a cause, $10. These fees are payable in advance.

    Again, please contact either of the general coordinators about your donations or having a table.

  5. Volunteer to help on May 15.

    Helping hands are need on the day of the fair for such tasks as decorating Willow Place with balloons, setting tables in place, assisting at some of the tables and with the standing games and races and doing planting in the Palmetto Playground under the leadership of “It’s My Park Day” Coordinator Libby Cooper. Contact the general coordinators if you can help.

  6. Spread the word–and attend!

    The fair promises a good time for people of all ages with a raffle, Willowtown merchandise, standing games, races, face painting, live swing music along with the opening rally, the silent auction, the Willowtown walking tour and the chance to learn the histories of the houses on Willow Place.

    The food will be by Willowtown’s own Iris Café, hailed by the New York Times as one of the city’s “standouts” in “a satisfying bite to eat.”

    So…spread the word far and wide. Help make the 2010 fair Willowtown’s best and most welcoming ever!

The general coordinators are: