From Acorn Hill Farm to Yankee Distillers and a hundred other vendors in between, alphabetically speaking, the fifth annual Basilica Farm & Flea Holiday Market will fill over 9,000 square feet of floor space with handmade and vintage goods, locally made and farm-fresh food products.
A special soiree will kick off the weekend on Friday, November 24 from 6 to 9 p.m., with a wide range of activities, such as free portraiture done by artist and designer Aurel de St. André, using an Afghan box camera that he found in Kabul while working there as a graphic designer. A selection of vendors will do live demonstrations of their crafts, with Margot Becker demonstrating her beautiful weaving, Smugtown Mushrooms presenting their diverse cultivation kits and medicinal goods and the Hudson Valley Seedshed showing attendees how to de-husk its native American corn, coupled with live music from Hudson’s own Sauerkraut Seth, cocktails by Fish & Game and dinner by Alimentary Kitchen and Raven and Boar.
Basilica Farm & Flea will showcase the creative talents of makers of custom clothing, ceramics, kimchi, beeswax candles, handcrafted leather goods, elegant handcrafted jewelry, textiles and paper goods, furniture and home décor, objects, paintings, home goods and collectibles. The expanded market will also feature Jimbo’s Airbrush Hut, an art project by Catskill artist Jim Krewson housed in Basilica Hudson’s Green Trailer. Basilica Hudson’s Art Shop will showcase work by a number of emerging painters, sculptors, musicians, record labels and furnituremakers who have previously performed or exhibited at the venue. The Art Bus Project, a nonprofit organization and mobile exhibit dedicated to art exposure, education and engagement, will be on hand to encourage visitors to up their own creative thinking.
An assortment of farm-to-table fare will be available in the Basilica Farm & Flea food court from resident chef Nicole Lobue of Alimentary Kitchen and Ruby and Sather Duke of Raven and Boar. Specially crafted cocktails will be available for purchase at the Basilica Farm & Flea bar, thanks to Fish & Game, while Irving Farm Coffee Roasters return with their espresso machine in tow. Meanwhile, Brooklyn Oyster Party will be making its Basilica Farm & Flea debut, serving oysters sourced from the most pristine and coldest water.
Basilica Hudson, a non-profit multidisciplinary arts center, was founded in 2010 to support the creation, production and presentation of arts and culture while fostering sustainable community. Proceeds from admissions and vendor fees will bolster ongoing operations for the organization, and allow it to continue to develop and present programs. A pass for the whole weekend costs $5, and admission is free for kids under 12.
Basilica Farm & Flea Holiday Market, Friday, November 24, noon-9 p.m., Saturday, November 25, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday, November 26, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., $5, Basilica Hudson, 110 South Front Street, Hudson; http://basilicahudson.org/farmandflea.