Fosterville event enjoys good weather and great crowds
Fosterville’s Golden Unicorn Arts Festival made a welcome return Aug. 9 after a six-year hiatus. The ninth festival drew vendors and visitors from Carleton and York counties, as well as beyond, to Fosterville, located in the heart of lake country.
Mother Nature provided a picture-perfect summer’s day, as around 250 visitors enjoyed live music, food, and an array of handmade art and crafts, along with art demonstrations and information booths.
Len and Sarah Sherman founded the festival in 2011, which they host on the tree-shaded lawn around their home. Their 50-acre property also serves as a campsite known as Trip’ n Daisy’s Hippie Hangout.
“We’re really happy we got around 20 vendors,” said Sarah Sherman. “We’d have done it with ten.”
Art lovers were treated to an array of artistic offerings, including watercolour art by Puddles of Pigment, Seillean Mil Designs’ textile creations, and stained glass pieces by Gloamlight Glass. Artist Suzan Carsley demonstrated how she carves her linocut blocks, ready to print, and spoke with visitors about her work, which features New Brunswick landscapes and history.
Jewellery makers included Atlantic Pewter’s Celtic-inspired pieces, Twisted Creations’ upcycled and polymer clay items, and Hammerthreads’ unique leather pieces. Megan Billings provided one-of-a-kind pottery, and The Tangled Hobbyist brought a splash of colour with hand-dyed and spun yarns.
The Shermans opened their Artsy-Crafty Gallery to visitors, and Len welcomed people to his art studio, filled with an eclectic mix of portraits, landscapes, whimsical paintings, and hand-painted signs, as well as fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books that he had authored and illustrated.
Sarah is also an author and had planned to launch her memoir at the festival.
“It’s called Unbroken: One Woman’s Story of Survival,” she explained. “It wasn’t printed in time to launch today. The intention of the book is to help people to understand how someone can live in an abusive relationship for 18 years. It wasn’t safe for me to leave.”
Sarah’s story, featured in the CBC documentary “Behind Closed Doors,” led to her founding a charity to support other survivors of violence.
We’re Here for You Canada started with a one-time donation to her local hospital, she said. Since its founding in 2022, the volunteer-run charity has expanded to serve most hospitals in New Brunswick.
“We donate comfort kits which include personal hygiene items, toiletries, clothes, and gift cards for meals and travel. We give them to Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners.”
This year’s Golden Unicorn Arts Festival ended with a memorial to James Buxton, who passed away in 2022. The wood carver and basket weaver had long-standing connections with the festival.
“James started coming in 2012. After his first year, he helped us set up and stayed all weekend,” Sarah recalls. “He brought more people every year.”
The Shermans are already planning for next year’s festival with the date set for August 8, 2026.
