The Muir Beach Holiday Arts Fair was held on Saturday, Dec. 7, and Sunday, Dec. 8, to showcase local artists’ work and bring the Muir Beach community closer together for the holidays.
Many artists sold and showed off their work, ranging from jewelry to pottery to 3D-printed objects and much more. There was also an array of food, with sweet and savory crepes, burritos, apple butter and other local items.
Laurie Piel, who has organized the fair for roughly 10 years, said that the fair brings people in the community together, and everyone comes to support each other. The strong community is natural because of the secluded nature of Muir Beach.
“Because we live where we do, against the coastline, bordered by the ocean and Highway 1, we are really set apart from everybody else. It’s 8 miles to Sausolito in one direction and it’s 8 miles to Stinson Beach in the other direction,” Piel said, “What that has done from the very beginning has made it a very dependent-on-each-other [community] and everyone’s got everybody else’s back.”
Piel is appreciative, and notes how this fair differentiates from other typical ones.
“It’s such a loving place, [in other fairs] it’s all about selling, this is all about community,” Piel said.
Piel revealed that since volunteers run the fair and not an organization, the artists profit from it, and the only money made is from the food and beverage bars.
“After the expenses, all the profits go to our community for events for the community,” Piel said.
The fair also provides space for the Muir Beach Volunteer Fire Department to sell clothing items to produce money for the department.
Nearly 50 years, the fair was founded, and was run by the Muir Beach Quilters for nearly 40 years before they decided to stop. Piel took over because she realized how much the community wanted it.
J. Thomas Soltesz, a well-known artist in California, helped put on the fair the year the Quilters decided to stop running it. He sold his work at the fair that year, which created a large attraction, and has been selling at the fair since then.
“The place was empty during the holidays, so I asked one of the people if I could borrow the space and show my paintings for Christmas. And then a couple of other people joined me, and then more people joined. It’s turned into this big annual event now,” Soltesz said.
The fair showcases all kinds of art, and nothing is too similar. This allows for a wide range of art for people to look at and purchase.
“I think that it is important for people to get a chance to expose their work to the public no matter what format,” Soltesz said.
Artists and artisans oftentimes struggle to sell their work, but the holiday fair brings shoppers and community, allowing these artists to thrive.
“Most art fairs bring people from all over the place, while this place is almost always local people,” Soltesz said. “Muir Beach has many creative people and artisans, and it’s difficult for artisans to find places to sell their work. This way, it ties everyone together with one main theme: [the holidays].”
