Author: atwiford

Cherry Hill hosted its initial craft fair of the year at the township library on March 30, an event that benefitted the facility.

Meredith Meyer is the library’s volunteer coordinator. She was also one of the main organizers of the free fair, and began gathering vendors in late February.

“It’s technically a fundraiser for the library,” she explained, “so vendors pay money, and we use that to make money so that we can provide other programming for free.”

Meyer was also in charge of setting up the library for the fair and ensured things ran smoothly. 

“It’s been crowded since we opened,” she said on the day of the event. “There was a line outside the door when the library opened … It sells out as far as vendors in about two weeks, so it’s a hot commodity. People want to come to it.”

The fair took place on the library’s main and lower levels, in its lobby and in meeting rooms, where craft vendors from small businesses and crafters from all over South Jersey were on hand. Fifty-five sellers offered various handmade goods for sale.

Katie Carpenter and Linda Flatley were selling birdhouses made out of wood from old barns and other farm structures. 

“My dad lives on a horse farm,” Carpenter noted, “and they’re solid oak. And he only takes them down when a horse breaks one. So then he takes the wood and makes it into bird houses … He has entirely too much time on his hands, and he’s having a great time doing it.”

“Farmers don’t like to waste things,” Flatley added.

Other items for sale included crocheted clothing, plushies and accessories, novelty ceiling-fan pulls, baked goods, teas and flavored butters. Sharon Davis’ offerings varied, but centered on soaps and lotions she made herself at home. 

“My main focus is being an inspiration to people when they use my products,” she said. 

Art was also represented and sold throughout the fair, in different mediums and techniques from fiber art to digitally created graphics turned into prints. Jena Wong sold candles and stickers she began making during COVID in 2020. Her table also featured clip-on earrings with a clear resin in a horseshoe shape to stay on the ear.

“My sister, she can’t have her ears pierced,” Wong pointed out. “So she found a concept from Japan. So these are not your traditional clip-ons, where they pinch you and your ears hurt afterwards.”

Several fair vendors promoted the sustainable practices used in the creation of their goods. Aimee Eckert creates blouses and skirts from thrifted or second-hand quilts and blankets, as well as new pieces of jewelry from old and broken antique pieces. 

“I’ve met so many new and nice customers and people that are really appreciating my work here,” she observed. “It’s been crowded, and everyone’s been super, super nice.” 

The fair began at 1 p.m. and ran for three hours. Another is usually held in late fall or early winter, in time for the holidays.

Since Mayor Dave Fleisher took office over a year ago, one of his most promoted efforts is the Wellness Campaign to improve the health of township residents and foster community engagement.

Among events he’s sponsored are seminars, nutritional cooking classes, senior engagement and outdoor programs. And on March 26, he joined one of his regular wellness walks with residents at the grand court in the Cherry Hill Mall. Fleisher has conducted them toward the end of every month since January. 

“As mayor, I am committed to offering opportunities for Cherry Hill residents to engage in activities that support a healthy lifestyle,” he said. “It’s truly rewarding to engage with so many residents on this wellness journey that also helps to bring our community together. I look forward to continuing our monthly series and seeing Cherry Hill residents at our next walk.”

All of the walks have been held in the morning before the mall’s opening at 9 a.m., and they lasted about an hour-and-a-half. For the March jaunt, walkers were joined by employees of stores and kiosks throughout the mall who were starting their work day.

Celeste Bogda is an aide in the mayor’s office.

“We just were trying to figure out a way to kind of get people moving,” she explained of the walks, “and an easy way to bring the community together in different areas throughout the township, get people’s bodies moving and give them an opportunity to get some face time with our police officers, with the mayor, other council members … It’s just been a great way to get our day started and just kind of get moving.

“All the different people and residents that they may not have interactions with on a regular basis, now they have an opportunity to meet and engage with other residents of Cherry Hill, and everybody seems to be thrilled.” 

In addition to the walk, tables were set up in the center of the mall’s first floor to provide information and resources for township residents. The police department, some of the mayor’s staff and Jefferson Health were all on hand; the latter offered health screenings to walkers. 

The mayor’s office encouraged residents to take its three-part wellness pledge: to get active by exercising for at least 90 minutes a week; to eat healthier by incorporating more fruits, vegetables and water into their diets; and to know their numbers for weight, BMI, cholesterol and blood pressure. 

If weather allows, the walk moves outdoors starting on Saturday, April 26, at Croft Farm.

Makers Day is New Jersey’s annual celebration of STEM culture and the process of creating and learning throughout life. 

Its 11th year was celebrated from March 21 to 23 at the Cherry Hill library, among other locations. The first Makers Day was held in 2014 after a grant from LibraryLinkNJ, with the goal of boosting community engagement with libraries, museums and other entities that foster exploration and ingenuity. 

The township library celebrated this year’s event with a series of activities for patrons of all ages throughout the building. The day started with a drop-in coloring station for adults in the Reading Room, where magnet crafts that could be completed at home were also offered.

At 10:30 a.m., the library had volunteers on hand to guide participants through various origami projects and shapes, ranging from beginner to advanced. The station was informal, didn’t require registration and provided paper and all other supplies. For children in third through sixth grade, a two-hour event inspired curiosity and taught types of hands-on creation. 

Erica Moon is the youth services supervisor for the library. 

“It really started with more robotics types of things,” she recalled. “And then we, in Cherry Hill, wanted to kind of get away from all the little plastic bits, so we started calling it more of a how-to festival. So now we’re just learning about the science behind some simple things.”

The first hour of the library event was dedicated to the theme, “Persistence of Vision.” Children and parents were instructed by Moon and the volunteers on how to create kineographs, also known as flip books. The children then created stories by drawing pictures with colored pencils on index cards, and each consecutive card varied slightly from the image before it. 

When finished, all the cards were attached with binder clips, with the children holding them at the clipped side and using their thumbs to quickly flip between them, creating the illusion of movement and making the images come to life. 

“It’s the simple process of anime animation and just making still frames into a running animated film, basically …” Moon said. “We make the image the same on every card and just move it a little bit,” 

Flip book stories started with simple cartwheels and bouncing balls, but quickly shifted to more complex tales as the children got more comfortable with the process.

Susan Turner brought her daughter and son to the library.

“I brought my kids to make flip books …” she explained. “They really enjoyed it. I like seeing his (her son’s) creativity. He had an idea in his head, and kind of seeing it come to life as he’s drawing it, and as he draws, he started adding more elements, like the one with the boat.

“He did the boat moving,” she added, “but then he’s like, ‘I want to add a tsunami.’ So he starts drawing a tsunami coming in and she (her daughter) is just having a great time making a whole bunch of different stories.” 

One of the children present, Chloe Turner, created several different books. 

“It’s fun,” she noted. ” … So this one is a flower and a ball, and the petals fall down. And this one is an alien, yeah, going out of this day ship, and then going back in. And then this is a balloon, and a boy and the balloon just flows away, and then it pops.” 

As the first hour ended, Moon began instructing the children on how to create varied models of paper airplanes, including the dart, the bull nose and the hunter. Flyers with instructions on how to fold paper into each different type of airplane were passed around, with volunteers offering help when needed. 

Once all the kids created a plane model, Moon led them in a race to see which creation best flew, introducing them to the concepts of thrust, drag and lift. After everyone had raced at least one of their planes, she revealed a surprise model that had not been mentioned or shown to the group: the Nakamura Lock, a model she felt flew better than any other.