SOMERSET ART MARKET

Lee Cruse and Hayley Harmon visit Suits-Us Farm to discuss the Somerset Art Market.

At one of our favorite spo c1 3 we're in somerset and we're in a beautiful location.

This farm is called ... hayley-host: suits-us farm.

We are here in somerset and we are talking with our lovely friend, leslie, today from somerset tourism.

And we were talking about the upcoming somerset art market that's going to be here at this location.

So kind of tell us a little bit about that.

Leslie: well, thank you all for being here.

We're always glad to have friends come back and visit us.

It's going to be the seemyset art market.

It's a new event for us.

It's something that we thought we could do safely and in an open air barn market, and it's going to have our vendors, local crafters, our local artists that have been involved in our festivals downtown, as well as some downtown businesses.

And we're going to have all of them here.

We're going to have some live music from local artists throughout the day.

Just kind of as a showcase to what somerset and downtown has to offer.

Hayley-host: because a lot of people have fallen in love with the resurgence and just kind of the newness of downtown somerset.

But you guys are wanting to come out into the community too, and kind of bring all of that culture from downtown out here in the community.

Leslie: that's right.

I think tourism starts at home.

So it's not just important for us to take outside of the state.

It's important to take outside of the city limits.

So we are going to start here in the county and make sure we have those local ambassadors that can kind of tell our somerset story and tell about who we are as a people.

And part of that involves arts.

This past year, we received the governor's art award.

And so it's very important.

It's like the torch was given to us.

Now we can't sit on that.

We have to take that torch and run with it and continue to make sure that art is a founding pillar for moving forward.

Lee- host: i don't know if you've ever sat on a torch, but i have and it's not fun at all.

Okay.

So what you guys get to accomplish is, one, you get to highlight how beautiful pulaski county is.

Two, you get to create these ambassadors who understand the messaging, which the brand is just on point.

You guys are killing it as far as downtown somerset.

Because it really is beautiful.

Why not make sure everybody's involved, whether it's county or city and let's have a fun saturday.

Leslie: and our community is not just pulaski county.

All of our region, all of our surrounding counties, a lot come here on the weekends.

Things to do.

Of course always enjoy our lake.

And that's important.

And i think downtown was forgotten for a while.

And so i think it's important now to make sure that we let everyone know we're alive and open for business.

Hayley-host: yes.

Okay, last two things.

Give us the dates and times.

Leslie: okay.

The date is march 27th, 11 to six, and it is free admission.

There will be temperature checks, masks, all those fun things that we do now, but we're going to do it in a safe manner and make sure everybody has fun at the same time.

Lee- host: if you get a chance, come see our friends down in somerset, come seemyset, as they say, and we're going to have a fantastic day for you saturday at the farm, which is called ... hayley-host: suits-us farm.

Lee- host: suits-us farm.

I love that name.

Hayley-host: before we wrap, we've got to talk about the bourbon barrels.

Leslie: yes.

Hayley-host: the lids, yes.

Because last time we visited with you was at the moonlight festival and there was a really cool art exhibition you had going on.

Tell us about that and how it's turning into this new event.

Leslie: so one of the things that we do at our festival that's very neat is we always have the loud music, but we also have a live art component.

So we have artists that are creating ... the first year they did painted bourbon barrels.

This year they did bourbon barrel lids.

And so they had that theme of, guess what, horse soldier bourbon is coming to somerset.

So that was huge news for us.

And then we incorporated that with somerset's new branding and moving forward.

And so they each made their own art out of that.

And those barrels each tell a different story.

So what we wanted to do is we have all these barrel lids and i'm like, what can we do with these that actually, again, will go along with building somerset and continuing that art story.

So we're going to online auction those starting march 26th and 27th.

We will online auction those and anybody can bid on those and it will create an art fund so we can continue to have arts downtown through murals, sculpture, various forms of things that we can continue to do.

Hayley-host: just keeping this going and continuing this growth in somerset.

Lee- host: so again, it happens though this saturday.

Come visit our friends here in somerset at the farm, which is called ... hayley-host: suits-us farm.

Lee- host: suits-us farm.

That's right.

Hayley-host: it's beautiful.

You got to come check it out.

Thank you, leslie.

Great