Red Geranium Market All About Live Music and Shopping to Help Benefit Church Mission Projects

In years past, Jennie Auble would visit local farmers markets or contact the Noblesville High School music department or put a call-out to the church congregation to find musicians for the Red Geranium Artisan Market at the First Presbyterian Church in Noblesville.

This year, all of the musicians , including two returning from last year, contacted the church and asked if they could be a part of the entertainment for the market.

The seventh annual Red Geranium Artisan Market will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church of Noblesville. Admission is free with free parking at nearby Noblesville City Hall parking lot.

For many, the market is about the shopping. But for others, the market is about the atmosphere and the live entertainment.

In 2020, the live music was canceled due to COVID protocols. Last year, the live music returned. This year, there is even more live music. So bring your lawn chairs and chill to the sounds of live music, which begins at 9:30 a.m. and continues through 3 p.m.

Now, let’s meet the musical talent:

Macy Berglund of Carmel will perform at 9:30 a.m. She is a 20-year-old guitar and ukulele player and instructor and plays basketball for Hillsdale College Chargers.

Emily Ann and Kelly Thompson of Noblesville will perform Celtic and American old-time folk, bluegrass and country music at 11 a.m. Emily is a local fiddler and clogger and performs with her husband, Kelly, on guitar and bodhrán.

“Macy and Emily Ann sang with us last year and both said they couldn’t wait to come back,” Auble said.

Cass Henson, a Noblesville High School senior, a self-taught guitarist who has been singing since she could talk, will perform at noon. She also plays ukulele and plays mainly covers of all genres. She has performed at NHS’s Noblesville’s Got Talent, Noblesville Farmers Market and at Barley Island Brewing Co., which recently closed in downtown Noblesville. Henson saw a Facebook post about the Artisan Market and asked if she could perform in a time slot.

Molly Jones of Carmel, a triplet, has been playing the harp since she was 14 and was inspired from watching the “Aristocats” movie and watching a harpist in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. She got her start playing harp at Nancy Noel’s art gallery. Three of her students will perform alongside her, Ela and Kinley, both 12, and Niping, a pianist and piano instructor who just started the harp, will perform at 1:30 p.m.

There is a special stage area near the entrance of the church. “The location has a bit of shade trees and a tent with chairs for guests to sit and enjoy the musicians,” Auble said. The stage is right next to Stacco House by Mammamia gelato (of Carmel), so it is a perfect place to enjoy a cool treat being served up by Christine Jourdan while listening to the show.” The vendor’s daughter is this year’s harpist.

Auble, who is co-chairman of the market with Sue Jourdan, said the committee previewed the musicians on YouTube videos and went by word-of-mouth recommendations, to make sure the entertainment “would fit our casual, European market-style of music.”

All guest artists are volunteer musicians, but they’re encouraged to put out “tip jars.”

“Because our market is all for charity and supporting our mission projects and missionaries, we don’t have the budget to pay them. They all love donating their time toward our market,” Auble said. Although the church sometimes donates if a group or singer comes from NHS, especially if the young people are involved with a fundraiser of their own.

The market has a festive open-air environment with 50 vendors located indoors as well as outdoors, with 35 of those vendors returning.

Five years ago, the Red Geranium Artisan Market started as an experiment to see if the concept might work. There were about 20 vendors “and a good trickle of shoppers throughout the day,” Auble has said.

Each year since, the market has grown in both participation and attendance.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Red Geranium Market, in 2020, offered a fun and safe socially distanced outdoor event with limited vendors. Just no bake sale. And no indoor booths. However, about 1,200 shoppers descended upon the market.

Last year, so many artisan vendors applied that the applications became juried, with only the most original and unique arts and crafts selected to provide shoppers with a selection and variety. The vendors will include fine art, antiques, furniture, boutique clothing, kids’ clothing, photography, jewelry, wood, up-cycled unique creations and more. Last year’s and this year’s  markets offer a bake sale which will be put on by ladies of the First Presbyterian Church.

Besides live music, there is a special booth manned by the church volunteers to support two of the church’s mission projects.

The Ukrainian half of the booth is called Padelka, which means “handmade” in Ukraine. Auble said this booth will sell hand-painted solid oak Ukrainian Easter eggs traditionally called pysanky, along with similarly decorated purses, ornaments and jewelry, along with an adorable collection of crocheted stuffies, she said. All items are painted by a Ukrainian artist, Marina Shepeluk, who was raised in an orphanage and earns a living from the American sales of her work. She is a Last Bell Ministries orphanage graduate and is currently a refuge living in Copenhagen Denmark with her children. Auble said sales of her wares help support her and 100 percent will be sent back to her. A second Ukrainian artist, Diana Baylina, who is refugeeing in Finland with her 7-year-old daughter and also a Last Bell Ministries graduate, does all of the knitting work, the stuffies and the fibers on the purses. “This is what brings joy to my heart and soul,” Baylina told Auble.

Also, for sale will be beautiful batik hand-crafted Africa bags and aprons made by women from Malawi, Africa. “They haven’t been with us since pre-Covid, and we are excited to support the women of Malawi,” Auble said.

Each of the artisans rent booth space from the church to help the church’s mission team to raise money for local, state, national and international mission projects they sponsor.

Jourdan, the church’s mission elder of many years, was originator of the first Red Geranium market.

“I learned about the Artisan Market world from her and spent a lot of time visiting arts and crafts shows to find vendors and see how things operated,”  Auble has said. “As an art teacher for 33 years, I love all forms of self-expression found in visual arts. The Red Geranium Artisan Market has become a fun post-retirement gig for me, organizing and promoting the market and getting to know all the artisans.”

Jourdan has said the market is “a good way to reach out to our community while raising money for the missions we support.”

Joining Auble and Jourdan on the committee are Kristin Roe, Rita Popp, Sherry Minton, Wendy Bittle and Brian Weurch (emcee and voice of the Red Geranium.)

This year’s market stayed at 50 vendors due to limited space and “had to turn away some wonderful artisans because we only have so much room but have grown in supporting more not-for-profit organizations, plus Padelka and Africa Bags and having a food truck this year,” Auble said.

The food truck, Samano’s Taco Truck, will serve lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Also, NHS Band Boosters will sell tickets for a 50/50 raffle, and Noblesville Preservation Alliance will sell 35th annual Historic Home Tour tickets for Sept. 17 event.

The 1890s historical First Presbyterian Church tours showcasing the sanctuary, stained glass and organ, return this year. Church volunteers will take anyone who is interested on short tours.

Contact Betsy Reason at betsy@thetimes24-7.com.