Supercrawl Guys, Supercrawl

So this weekend was the big event. Big, huge, gigantic event that we spent the last month and a half preparing for. And it was everything we hoped it would be and more. Police estimated crowds of 50,000 strolling the streets of downtown Hamilton. A Super Saturday indeed.

I'm blown away by the dedication and passion of all the people I know who made this happen. The Supercrawl committees, the volunteers, the shop owners and the patrons. Thank you to everyone who made this such a great time.

Isn't that banner cute? Tim (head honcho of Supercrawl) has two young daughters and they surprised their hardworking dad with it last week. He hung it in a place of honour at Supercrawl base camp.

The curatorial committee especially did an incredible job with the selection and execution of pieces.  Max Streicher's "Giants Ascending" was a showstopping installation on the rooftop of Mixed Media. There should be more things like this on the tops of buildings in every day life. How magical is this?

The Beehive pulled together and put up our "Knit Night on the Brain" installation. Many, many, many hours of knitting and stitching and crocheting went into this, resulting in many, many, many sore fingers and hands. It wasn't in vain, because it turned out just awesome. I've never been a part of a big installation like this, so it was pretty surreal to see it all pieced together, and to watch people's reaction as they looked up and realized that it was all knit.

It's already been taken down, and I'm lamenting the fact that it couldn't be a permanent addition to the bar. But, those scarves must now be donated to those in need, and that makes us feel pretty good.

We had so much help with this project, it's crazy to think about. I can say from all of us that we love all of our helpers very much.

Lots and lots of street art, including from the chalk that Jane and I put outside the shop for people to go nuts with again this year. In an article in our local paper, it was mistakenly described as "the children's area". 

A favourite of mine was Hive from the TH&B collective. Another piece of art that you may have missed if you weren't looking carefully enough. I love that kind of stuff. My favourite exhibit of the event was Matthew Schofield's Place Holder at Buttrum & Son. What I wouldn't give to take one of those pieces home with me.

When we have chalk, balloons and candy, I guess you can't blame them for thinking that we were the children's area. What can we say? We try to lure them in early.

Mike and Andrew graciously agreed to be our balloon vendors for the day. After watching "The Red Balloon" in the summer with some friends (currently their three year old's favourite movie) we wondered why you didn't see balloon vendors with the huge bunches of balloons anymore. Turns out it's because balloons sell like hotcakes, and kids are lining up for them faster than you can fill them with helium. Next year, we'll fill every single balloon in advance, and then maybe there will be enough to fulfill my dream of Mike or Andrew almost being able to float away.

Also, the most popular colour for balloons? Purple, by far. Least favourite? Green and white.

The window was a labour of love that was completed with much help. When I told my sister-in-law Allison about our balloon vendor plans, she said it would be cute if our window display was hot air balloons. What a good idea! So we made paper mache balloons, and got our resident artist Krysten to paint most of them, inspired by vintage hot air balloon photos. Jane and I added the textural detailing afterwards, and I wove all the baskets by hand. We bought fresh sod and laid it down in the window. We put in a Jenna Rose Hamilton tote so that it would seem as though the balloons were flying over downtown Hamilton.

Isn't it just the sweetest? And I know, I know. Polarizing filter. I'll get one eventually. I kind of like the dreamy effect that a window glare gives, though.

The night was capped off with an amazing performance from Broken Social Scene. The crowd was massive. It was surreal to see that many people in downtown Hamilton. A great sight. I was lucky enough to capture it from the roof of a friends building.

And now, we sleep. This weekend was a whirlwind. We have some more exciting projects for fall in the works, but I'm looking forward to not having anything too urgent on my plate for the next little while.

Hamilton, we love you. Thanks for an inspiring weekend.