Artist collaboration to wrap up Creative Market season Oct. 11
The Developing Artist Collaboration will host its final Creative Markets for the year from 5:30 to 9 p.m., Monday, Oct. 4, and Monday, Oct. 11, in the parking lot it transformed into a weekly open-air art market at 19826 Central St., Rehoboth Beach.
Sussex County Council recently unanimously approved allowing the collaboration to have full access to the site from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week in 2022. Creative Market features all artists and handmade businesses as well as live music, food trucks, do-it-yourself art projects and a creative cocktail bar.
The collaboration started the creative market, formally Meterless Mondays, in the parking lots of Egg and Rehoboth Ale House in downtown Rehoboth during summer 2020 as a response to the pandemic. Almost every local opportunity for artists was canceled in 2020 due to COVID, but DAC made it a priority to keep artists connected to the public safely in an open-air market so their businesses could survive. As COVID restrictions were lifted in 2021, organizers decided to continue the event in West Rehoboth.
In spring 2021, they held Creative Market West Rehoboth on Monday evenings in a lot adjacent to Tomato Sunshine and Ocean Boulevard Furniture, near Revelation Brewery. The event grew into a weekly destination for locals and tourists to enjoy an innovative art market serving hundreds of guests and bringing opportunity to more than 100 different local artists, musicians and handmade businesses.
"Putting on a weekly event for our community has been a dream for our organization, and as much as we would love to continue Creative Market into the fall and the holidays, we know we have to focus our attention on our artists through the rest of the year," said Leah Beach, DAC founder and executive director. "We have our largest fundraiser of the year, Tacomania, at Big Chill Beach Club on Oct. 13, and our 7th Annual Dewey Sip and Shop Black Friday in Dewey Beach on Dagsworthy Street. Since Creative Market is in its first year, we wanted to go out with a bang rather than spread ourselves and our artists too thin by having too many events."
The weekly event will launch again starting Memorial Day weekend 2022 along with the unveiling of the DAC's West Rehoboth Mural Project, which will honor the history of West Rehoboth.
"Since we now have full access to this lot seven days a week, we plan to have the Creative Market on Mondays in 2022 as well as feature Shakespeare theater, comedy nights, movie nights and so much more. We are open to any partner organizations or folks looking to host private events," said Beach.
To lean more, go to developingarts.org.
