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Date: 5/23/2022
HARDWICK – On May 28 Clay Bae By Gina and the Hardwick Vineyard & Winery are hosting their Spring Fling Craft & Food Festival from 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. on 3305 Greenwich Rd. They have artisans coming from all over New England, mostly from central and Western Massachusetts.
Owner Gina Palazzo of Clay Bae By Gina said, “We want everyone to come out, have fun, listen to some live music, have food and shop local.”
Monson Savings Bank is sponsoring the event, marking this year their 150th anniversary as well as Hardwick Vineyard & Winery’s 25th anniversary of being in business. The proceeds from the event will go toward the Hardwick Food Pantry.
Clay Bae By Gina is a small business that specializes in polymer clay creations. Palazzo started her polymer clay business during the coronavirus pandemic as a creative outlet after working from home all day. Once craft fairs started to make their return, her best friend’s mother asked her to set up a table for a pop-up event she was doing in May of 2021 selling her earrings. Palazzo quickly started doing other events and learned which ones were going to work for her, which led her to approach the Hardwick Vineyard & Winery to start her own craft fair.
Palazzo said, “I knew the winery was going to be a good place to do it and went from there.”
Hardwick Vineyard & Winery Tasting Room Manager Kaitlin Young replied, “I still remember getting an email from Gina saying this would be the perfect place to have a crafts fair and I could not agree more with her. The winery is the perfect layout with all the outdoor space that we have.”
Young went on to say, “Prior to COVID[-19], we used to have craft fairs. Obviously, that stopped with the [coronavirus] pandemic since we couldn’t have any events on site. It’s really exciting to bring them back and support all these local businesses and local crafters because we need that local support now more than ever.”
Palazzo hosted her first craft fair with the winery last year and it was a huge success. They had a month and a half to prepare and get all of their vendors and food trucks organized. Palazzo and Young told Reminder Publishing they didn’t know what to expect, so to have such a great turnout in terms of people coming to visit, shop, drink wine, eat food and show off their talent and craft was “amazing.”
This year, they plan to have 75 vendors and more food trucks such as Flippin the Bird BBQ, Tony’s Happy Valley Pizza, JB’s mobile cafe and Batch Ice Cream. Along with artisans such as Sew Lucky Penny, The Flower Shed, Summit Soaps, Bina’s Boutique, Adopt-A-Gnome, Wicked Good Treats by Elaine and of course, Clay Bae by Gina selling stud and dangle earrings, keychains, trinket dishes, air plant hangers and many other new items that will be available at the event.
“We hope everyone have a great time,” Young responded. “Our main focus is to support the locals, having fun and benefiting the food pantry. We want to support as many small businesses as we can.”
For more information, check out Clay Bae By Gina and the Hardwick Vineyard & Winery’s event page on Facebook where they do a vendors spotlight on all the vendors and food trucks that will attend the festival.
Follow Clay Bae By Gina on Facebook and Instagram or email claybaebygina@gmail.com.
For information on the winery, visit their website at hardwickwinery.com or email info@hardwickwinery.com. Their phone number is 967-7763. Folks can get the most up to date information on their Facebook and Instagram as well. Rain date for the Spring Fling Craft & Food Festival is May 29.