Environmentalists with advice, from left, Amanda McCabe, Leigh Ann Tulleson and Alison Grande.
The Glen Ridge Arts/Eco Fair had good weather and a crowd along Ridgewood Avenue on Saturday afternoon although the number of commercial vendors was a little below last year’s total.
The fair has two sections, one highlighting local interests such as emergency medical services, the public library, the civic conference committee and environmental issues. The other section, and by far the larger, is for merchants. Student art work is exhibited in the high school. Stephanie Koskuba is in her fifth year as merchant coordinator.
“We’ve at least a dozen new vendors,” she said. “There’s about 65 altogether. Last year, the number was in the low 70s.”
Regardless of the numbers, Koskuba said the event was appreciated by the residents.
“We have a very supportive vendor community,” she said. “They’ve been coming here for as long as I’ve been here. One comes for ecology information and to shop at the merchant’s market. We put the word out to the vendors in January and by mid-February, the spaces are more than half filled.”
Some of the first-time vendors included Glen Ridge’s Mosaic Dance Theater Co.
“A lot of times when there’s been a fair, we’ve had a conflict because we’d have a show,” said Morgiana Celeste Varricchio, the company founder and producing artistic director.
The next dance performance, she said, will be “Cassandra, An On-Going Tragedy,” in October.
Another first-time Arts/Eco Fair vendor was artist Wendy Born who exhibited paintings.
“I’ve heard good things about this fair,” she said. “My entire message is noticing nature and everyday beauty. The things you focus on colors your world.”
Spice Pops, of Montclair, was another first-timer, but the Essex County Chapter of the Native Plant Society was not.
Deb Ellis, the chapter leader, said it was crucial for native plants to be reintroduced.
“Native plants evolved with the pollinators,” she said. “That’s why it’s important. The majority of plants we landscape are not native. We need a movement to promote native plants and restore bio-diversity. A lot of people don’t know that.”
The coordinator for the local interests was Amanda McCabe, of the Glen Ridge Environmental Committee. She and Alison Grande, the Bensen Street Community Garden manager, were recognized during Women’s History Month for their sustainability efforts in the borough. State Assembly District 34 members, Carmen Morales and Michael Venezia, presented them with their awards.
The environmental section of the street also had some first times. There were the Native Daughter Gardens and auto dealers provided cars for the car show.
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