Bringing the Williamsburg Community Together Through the 2nd Sundays Street Fair
Since its creation in 2010, Williamsburg’s 2nd Sundays festival has brought together a wide variety of vendors, musicians, and members of the community every second Sunday from March to December.
ABIGAIL CONNELLY // FLAT HAT MAGAZINE
The bustling streets of downtown Williamsburg are filled with the noise of local musical ensembles and the smell of delectable foods for all types of culinary enthusiasts during the 2nd Sundays street fair. On the second Sunday of every month from March to December, multitudes of residents, students, and tourists peruse over a hundred booths arranged throughout six blocks from Richmond Road to Lafayette Street, along Scotland Street from Armistead to North Henry Street, and the 400 block of Prince George Street.
Artists and vendors flock to Williamsburg to advertise their businesses and sell products ranging from woodwork, glass art, handcrafted jewelry, and fine art to gourmet culinary goods.
Founded by registered dental hygienist Shirley Vermillion in 2010, the 2nd Sundays street fair is currently in its twelfth year of operation. In an interview with the Daily Press in March of 2020, Vermillion reflected on the beauty of bringing the Williamsburg community together for the event.
“I enjoy the opportunity to bring our community together and instill a sense of hometown pride through creative place-making,” Vermillion said. “The ability to turn four blocks of two downtown streets into a marketplace for diverse local artists and innovators and provide four stages for music and performing arts is incredible.”
19-year-old entrepreneur Ruby Starcher has owned a mural business for nearly five years. In 2020, she began a jewelry business and has sold custom pieces to the community ever since.
Each of her handcrafted rings are unique, recycled from older pieces of flatware.
Starcher explained the development of her interest in making rings..
“I started making hand-stamped rings, and then I got introduced to what a spoon ring was and thought it was super cool,” Starcher said. “I looked into the history of it, and it’s even cooler. Then I started making them, got pretty good at it, and then it was like, well, let’s make them on the spot.”
Spoon rings were thought to have originated in the 17th century in England. During this time, rings were created from the metal handles of flatware for table settings. Flatware at this time was typically made of silver and highly valued. Folk tales recall servants who could not afford silver sterling flatware stealing from their masters’ houses to create wedding bands.
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In the modern era, the hippie movement spurred the rise of personal expression through handmade creations like silverware rings. Not only did spoon rings serve as a mode of fashion, but they also were part of counterculture’s rejection of industrial fashion.
All of Starcher’s flatware comes from a commercial provider who organizes estate sales and gives her access to a variety of distinct pieces for her custom creations. Starcher operates out of Grape Ridge, Virginia in the Chesapeake Area and sells her rings in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Cape Charles, Newport News, and, of course, Williamsburg.
“It’s a beautiful place. I love coming here. It’s like a little day trip for me, coming from Chesapeake, so it’s really awesome,” Starcher said.
Some artists and vendors at 2nd Sundays fully operate out of the Williamsburg area. Since 2015, Williamsburg residents Paige and James Ewell have owned Wildwood Farm, a three-acre property on Ironbound Road that they grew into a farm business in 2017. Since then, the farm has steadily expanded into a spot for visitors. Visitors of the goat and flower farm can also shop at the farm store for handcrafted goods like goat milk soaps, herbal scrubs, and beeswax products.
Paige Ewell, born into a constantly relocating military family, eventually settled in Williamsburg, where she spent the majority of her later childhood in the area after her father’s retirement from service. It was in Williamsburg that she met her husband, James Ewell, who had been born and raised in Williamsburg.
After Paige and James Ewell got married in 2015, the Wildwood Farm business unofficially began, with the couple desiring to prioritize good stewardship of the land they owned. As their website notes, the couple began their farm endeavor with twenty-five golden laced Wyandotte chickens. James Ewell later surprised Paige Ewell on Christmas with two goats, which they named Eowyn and Sapphira. Eowyn gave birth a few months later, prompting the Ewells to discuss what to do with all of the excess milk.
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“We got married, and we wanted to live more self-sufficiently off the land, so we got some goats and chickens and started working our way towards that. And it kind of evolved into this farm business. It wasn’t exactly planned, but that’s what happened,” Paige Ewell said.
Paige Ewell’s interest in soap-making inspired her to use the excess goat milk to create batches of handmade soap, which she shared with family members, friends, and co-workers. As word of mouth spread about Paige Ewell’s soaps, local businesses invited her to market her products.
“I really like making soaps. It’s kind of like making art a little bit. You get creative with it,” Paige Ewell said.
The Ewells also make goat milk caramel, which James Ewell insists is his favorite to create.
“We make goat milk caramel. You can heat it up, enjoy it over ice cream, brownies, cookies — or you can put it in your coffee, and it turns into a caramel latte or macchiato. That’s my favorite,” James Ewell said.
The Ewells’ products are currently sold at various stores around Williamsburg — Silver Hand Meadery, consignment shops, and even Ace Hardware. The Ewells also market their products at local pop-ups like the 2nd Sundays festival, the Peace Hill Farm Fall Festival, and the Newton Holiday Markets.
Currently, Wildwood Farm is not open to the public with regular hours, but it may open during special occasions. Those interested in visiting the farm should subscribe to the Ewell’s newsletter which notifies and updates visitors about opportunities to check out the property.
Another local business in the Williamsburg area is Point of Focus, a creative art business operated by David Allen with the assistance of his wife Jan Allen. They have been vending at the 2nd Sundays festival for many years.
David Allen has been creating artwork since he was 11 or 12 years old, typically using pen and ink, colored pencils, color wash pens, and gel pens. David Allen emphasizes pointillism in his pieces, a technique which requires extreme focus and a substantial amount of time to properly execute, taking anywhere from ten to fifteen hours on average.
“I try to do as much detail as I can, because I know the aspects of modern art and impressionism, but I want to bring more emphasis to the detail,” David Allen said. “And God has blessed me. I say, thank you for giving me the patience to do it.”
One of the signature elements of David Allen’s work is the custom frames that he chooses for his pieces. With 47 years of experience in framing, he is certainly no novice.
David Allen is also a decorative painter by trade and has done work restoring buildings and with plaster work. Most of David Allen’s work displayed at the 2nd Sundays festival was created in the past two and a half years.
In terms of inspiration for his works, David Allen often turns to nature, animals, and historical buildings and settings. He has also done pieces focused on Celtic ideas and designs in recognition of his wife Jan’s Celtic ancestry.
David Allen sells his products regularly alongside his wife at the 2nd Sundays Festival as well as the On the Hill Gallery and the Gallery at York Hall, both in Yorktown, Virginia.
“We’ve been to many shows this year. It’s a lot of work to be able to put this up. We were at a show yesterday, and we had two sales. Of course, you don’t know. It’s give or take. It’s not always about selling your art,” David Allen said. “I know people want to make money, but . . . I want to emphasize my ideas about practice. If you can just do it for ten minutes a day, then you’ve done your artwork. That’s what I always try to make sure to tell people.”
David Allen’s jovial nature and dedication to the intricacies of his work are evident in his pieces, which range from beautifully detailed depictions of animals such as owls, frogs, and birds, to delicately structured portraits of historical buildings.
“It’s not always about selling your work,” he said. “It’s about connecting with fellow people who are artists and encourag[ing] them as well . . . I thank God that he has given me this talent, and I want to be able to push this talent forward and . . . have people like it as much as possible.”
The 2nd Sundays festival has been under the nonprofit organization Lovelight Placemaking since the spring of 2020. Students, residents, and tourists attend the festival, enjoying the experience of exploring the booths and musical spaces.
“I recommend they see and do it all,” Vermillion said. “Savor every booth, strike up a conversation, and discover the story of each artisan. What I love about 2nd Sundays is that it provides a relaxed, informal atmosphere where patrons can sample a variety of art forms.”
ABIGAIL CONNELLY // FLAT HAT MAGAZINE