Santa Cruz Avenue will again become a cavalcade of art and music this weekend (July 17-18) when the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce presents the 24th annual Connoisseurs’ Marketplace.
“This is a big event for our community,” says festival chair Rick Ciardella, who grew up in Menlo Park and operates landscape architecture firm Ciardella Associates. “As a fundraiser for the Chamber, it’s a way for us to make a difference.”
Ciardella told InMenlo that he particularly wanted to acknowledge the contributions of John Conway and Dr. Bill Tarr who were involved in planning this year’s event.
After a four year hiatus, the chefs’ demonstrations are back for the 24th edition. New attractions include the AutoVino collector car showcase, a microbrew and wine tasting tent, and a kids’ interactive art zone.
The free Saturday after-hours concert will feature Pride & Joy (pictured), considered by many to be the the Bay Area’s pre-eminent party band, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. in Fremont Park.
Bring two award-winning designers, launch a company, and watch the awards keep coming in. Such is the experience of Menlo Park resident Anne Schultz (left) and Jina Choi, who started their paper goods company Hello Hanna just last September.
As reported by InMenlo in May, they came up a big winner at the National Stationery Show for their Wishing Tree (pictured). And this month their Sweet Stands made the cover of the annual kid’s issue of Donna Hay magazine.
Anne and Jina met at Klutz Toys where they designed the Chicken Socks books. Because they enjoyed collaborating and creating new products, it wasn’t difficult, from their perspective, to form their own business. Hello Hanna’s initial product was a line of children’s place mats; they then added books, followed by the Wishing Tree. They plan to expand into other paper good such as place cards.
“Everything we develop you can customize,” says Anne, “or just use out of the box.”
Hello Hanna products can be ordered online and area also available locally at Paper Source in Palo Alta and at Draeger’s in Menlo Park. They’ll be appearing at the end of July at the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco.
Photo by Chris Gulker
