Rainy Weather is Perfect Plant Weather!

Tell your Bedford friends: We have great plants, live music, crafts, food and our friends from Chip-In Farm will be bringing some adorable animals!

Get ready for summer while supporting the work of First Parish, and enjoy some time on our beautiful town common.

Remember: The best people come out in the worst weather!

And this year’s plants are fabulous

 

Announcing the 2018 Crafter’s List

From long-time participants to new additions, the crafters at the fair are bringing their best wares!

Click this link to see who’ll be on the Common on May 19

The 2018 Plant & Craft Fair Vendor Application is Available Online!

 

The 65th Annual First Parish Plant & Craft Fair is gearing up for our 2018 event on Saturday, May 19 (snow date: Sunday, May 20)

 

Click PFAIR2018 – Crafter Registration to download and print your registration form.

 

 

Scroll Down to Read About Prior Plant & Craft Fairs!

Ready. Set. Shop!

Great plants on Bedford Common, 10 am to 3 pm on Saturday – be there in time to get the good stuff . . . The line is well-underway by 9:45!

The music starts around 9:30 with Fran and Bob Tyler, then Buffie Groves, and Emi McSwain!

Plus crafts, food trucks, face painting, and the Bedford 4H/Chip-In Farm PETTING ZOO!

What You’ll Find at the Fair in 2017

Celebrate spring when it arrives at the First Parish in Bedford’s 64th annual Plant and Craft Fair on Bedford Common, from 10 am to 3 pm on Saturday, May 20.

This annual tradition has been bringing spring cheer to Bedford surrounding communities since 1953. The fair will both celebrate the bicentennial of First Parish’s historic meeting house and look to the future with a brand new look, food trucks, live entertainment to complement the great plants and crafts our guests have come to expect.

There will be something for everyone:

For Gardeners

There will, as always, be a huge selection of plants for your garden, including specialty annuals and heritage perennials from the gardens of our church members; hearty flowers and vegetable plants from local growers; and even “grocery garden” packs that make it easy for someone new to gardening to get started on a patch that will keep fresh produce on the table all season long.

Among the hundreds of ready-to-transplant heritage perennials you’ll find

• Bedford-grown: Apple mint, aster, bachelor buttons, blue iris, cat mint, coral bells small (from last year’s plant fair), creeping sedums #1, creeping sedums #2, creeping sedums #3, creeping thyme, daylily yellow , english ivy, euonymus, variegated , euphorbia, fern, feverfew, forsythia, geranium – blue , ginger – American , ginger – European, goat beard, hens & chickens, hosta (variegated  white, some short some taller), hosta (variegated yellow & green, short), Japanese iris -variegated, joe pye weed, lemon balm, lily of the valley, may apple like plant (leaf very divided), monkshood, myrtle, narrow leaf hosta, peonies (pink I think), peony, fancy (it may bloom in time to see the color), rhubarb, rocket, sedum, tall , sedge, short , small white flowers (bulbs), snowdrops, spearmint, st john’s wort, valium, white iris, wild leopard bane, wood betony, and yarrow.
• From a very special Carlisle garden: Aster October Sky, Astilbe, rose-pink, Brunera Emerald Mist, Catnip, Walkers Low, Chrysanthemums, Epimedium, GentianoidsWendell, Heliopsis, Iris, various, Jacob Ladder, Johnny Jump Ups, Lilies, Lychnis Viscaria, Penstemon Digitalis – Blue, Penstemon Digitalis – Husker Red, Peony Westerner and others, Phlox Paniculata, white, David, Phystotegia, Pink Manners, Primroses, Sedum Abbydore, Spectabalis bleeding hearts, Stachis Micrantha rose, Stachis, Pink, 12”, Trollius, yellow globe, and Veronica Crater Lake.

There will also be hearty nursery-grown annuals, along with herbs and vegetables in our Grocery Garden.

The line forms before 10 am, so arrive early for the best selection.

For Families

Spend the day on Bedford Common, and enjoy food truck offerings from Red Heat Tavern and United Teen Empowerment Center, musical entertainment including live folk music from WUMB’s Buffie Groves and singer/songwriter Patty Keough, along with Bedford’s Emi McSwain. And, as always, the fair will open with the saxophone stylings of Bob Tyler.

There will be fun for the kids, as well, including a petting zoo from Chip-In Farm, face painting, and a potting shed where your young ones can plant their own container garden!

For Shoppers and Strollers

This year, we are proud to showcase craftspeople and vendors from across New England, offering a wide variety of handmade and artisanal housewares, clothing, jewelry, and foods.  There will be popular vendors from the past, as well as artisans who have not exhibited their wares in Bedford before!

Some of this  year’s crafters include, in no particular order: homemade fudge, toffee, barks, brittles, popcorn; handmade original design jewelry using semiprecious stones, beads & metal; tote bags, hand bags, backpacks, coin purses; handmade sweaters, alpaca scarves,ponchos, blankets, dresses,musical instruments for kids; handcrafted silver plated wrap bracelets, embelished with crystals and beads; wooden beverage and garden totes, other projects made from reclaimed wood.; crystals, tumbled stones, jewelry, fossils; fair trade items made from tree bark, products from east africa (home décor and accessories); sterling silver jewelry with set gemstones; pottery and hand built ceramic sculptures; wooden puzzle boxes, trivets, and other wooden handcrafted items; handmade soap; exquisitely designed semiprecious gemstone jewelry using handcrafted pendants & quality gemstones from all over the world.; doll clothes for 18 inch dolls and cloth books; all natural cosmetics, vegan, lead free, cruelty free; animal doorstops, zippered cases in various sizes, gift bags, lanyards, wallets, phone & eyeglass cases, koozies, and draft dodgers.

And the Proceeds Benefit . . .

All proceeds from the Fair will support First Parish in its tradition of community service in Bedford. First Parish supports local initiatives including the Bedford School Department’s Tenacity Challenge, the Bedford Family Connection, Bedford Community Table, METCO, the Bedford Council on Human Relations and Violence Prevention Coalition along with other town-wide efforts to encourage diversity, education and the arts, and to minimize violence in our community.

To learn more, please visit our webpage at plantfair.wordpress.com, call 781-710-8488, or email plantfaironthecommon@gmail.com.

You Can’t Buy Happiness, but . . .

Celebrating the Bicentennial of our Historic Home in 2017

The 64th annual First Parish Plant & Craft Fair on May 20 will both look toward the bicentennial of our historic meeting house, and to the future with a brand new look, food trucks, live entertainment to complement the great plants and crafts our guests have come to expect.

Watch this space for updates, and mark your calendar for 10 am on May 20!