Pendleton Spring Jubilee to Kick Off Festival Season this Weekend
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
Blooming dogwoods are here, and that means festival season is upon us, with Pendleton kicking things off this weekend.
For nearly half a century, Pendleton has marked the season with a festival that treats art as one of its defining expressions. This weekend, the 49th Historic Pendleton Spring Jubilee returns Saturday from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m., and Sunday from noon to-5 p.m., with the Village Green and surrounding downtown streets filling up with artisans, food vendors, and the easy bustle of a community that knows how to make an occasion of the weather warming up.
The Jubilee bills itself as more than an ordinary art festival, and that claim seems to rest on something sturdier than publicity copy: the event has been refined over nearly 50 years into a familiar local rite, one that aims to be “unique and unforgettable year after year.” The award-winning festival is a juried arts and crafts gathering that brings together professional artists and handcrafters from across the Southeast in a family-oriented setting.
“We're just excited to have so many people in our corner, supporting the show again this year,” said Jordan McCall, Marketing & Event Coordinator for Lake Hartwell Country, the group which manages the event. “Between our community partners and our dedicated guests, it's going to be another fantastic Pendleton event; a show revolves around creative expression and the celebration of springtime. We want folks to come out and experience the joy and the color with us.”
With the historic Village Green serving as a centerpiece for the weekend, the rest of the event’s footprint is built for wandering and surrounding downtown: rows of booths, live entertainment, food vendors, and the sort of serendipitous shopping that can turn a casual stroll into a surprising purchase.
The Jubilee’s juried structure also gives it a more selective feel than the average craft fair. The event materials say it caps participation at no more than 85 artisans and limits the number in each category, with accepted work ranging from jewelry and pottery to painting, photography, fiber, woodcraft, and glass. That mix helps explain why the festival has long appealed to people who come looking not just for souvenirs, but for a sense that the town, for one weekend, has been temporarily reorganized around making things by hand.
Admission is free, and the schedule makes room for both the Saturday crowd and the Sunday crowd, with a full weekend of food, music, browsing and conversation built into the design.
