Courtesy of @TheCraftyHag on Instagram
By Lily Cannon
Holiday mania has descended upon St. Petersburg, bringing waves of Christmas lights, fake snow and limited-edition coffee flavors.
As the annual Holizaar, a “handmade holiday festival,” approaches its 15th year at Studio@620 on Dec. 17, it’s time for residents to show their appreciation to the pioneers of St. Petersburg.
Coralette Damme, founder of the seasonal bazaars and its partner organization, St. Pete Craft Heroes, has been here since the sprouting of the city’s artistic scene. She initially came to St. Petersburg in the early 2000s, not as an artist, but as scuba diver working at the Ocean Conservancy on Central Avenue.
“When I moved to [St. Petersburg], Central Avenue was pretty much a ghost town,” Damme said. “The whole block area was derelict. There were closed-up liquor stores and old antique stores, and everything was kind of dead. It’s not at all like what it is now.”
The turning point for local creatives only came when she started working at Studio@620.
“Leslie Curran and some other leaders in the art community met with the owners of the Crislip Arcade, a cozy alcove on Central Avenue, and decided ‘Hey, let’s let artists into this space. We can let them have cheap rent for studios and bring some life into downtown.’”
For Damme, it was “the beginning of the renaissance of St. Petersburg.”
She and fellow creative Shannon Schafer formed the Craft Heroes with a shared desire for accessibility, after they first met at a pop-up shop near the city’s shuffleboard courts. Their group went on to create impromptu art markets to raise money for nonprofits like the Red Cross, or draw crowds to quirky attractions like Dinosaur World. All admission profits went to the host organizations, while the artists participated simply to show their work.
“We would just go around and decide that this would be a good place for a craft show,” Damme said. “We just wanted to do the events, we didn’t care about making money.”
The spontaneity of the Craft Heroes eventually led them to Studio@620, where Damme began the annual art markets, starting with Holizaar. The venue’s endless possibilities are what drew her to the studio in the first place.
Within the last ten years, Studio@620 has expanded the scope of its events, from poetry open-mics to solo art galleries, all while preserving its grassroots core. The building itself serves as a creative anchor amidst the rapid gentrification and rental rates that threaten St. Petersburg’s artists.
“The whole town has changed after the artists came in and built this amazing vibe on Central Avenue,” Damme said. “Now it’s transitioning again to, in my opinion, a little more corporate and less local vibe. All the cool dive bars are gone and all that flavor is slowly dwindling away in the interest of people making money.”
With the decreasing affordability, many artists like Damme and Jennifer Kosharek, the same people who helped shape the city, are leaving the state entirely.
However, Damme continues to work with St. Petersburg organizations like Studio@620 to maintain the unique community.
“Everyone looks to artists. We are game-changers, and yet, we’re also overlooked.”
That’s why, according to Damme, a new generation has to rise up.
“People have to come together and not let everything get super corporatized,” she said.
Festivals like the Holizaar are a gateway for students to carve their names into the St. Petersburg wall of artists. Besides getting ahead on your gift shopping, meeting your local creatives can open up a new circle of opportunities.
“You just find other people who want to do what you want to do,” Damme said.
The Holizaar Festival will begin Saturday, Dec. 17 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free.
