STITCH ROCK 10
Amanda Linton’s kitschy bazaar Stitch Rock, which launched a thousand indie craft fairs across South Florida, has always remained a bastion of lowbrow madness. Would we find hand-stitched toaster plushies with goofy, long-toothed faces; or eyeball cupcake lollipops; or bottlecap music shakers; or paintings of topless medieval-fantasy goddesses brandishing gleaming broadswords, hungry for blood? A Stitch Rock visitor, rest assured, could find all of that and more.
Old School Square’s gymnasium in Delray Beach, Stitch Rock’s perch since 2007, will be stuffed with more stitched whimsies when the fair returns for its 10th anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 1. And 10 years sounds just long enough for Linton, who will “probably” retire her quirky marketplace after this year’s fest. “I don’t want to say it’s our last, final show, but I want to go out on a positive note,” says Linton, who programs monthly art shows at Ink and Pistons Tattoo and Piercings, the parlor she owns with husband JR in West Palm Beach. “[Stitch Rock] has been a staple for so long, and I wanted to end this on a nice, round number.”
A Collection of 10 years of Stitch Rock flyers! CLICK TO ENLARGE
A trendsetter that helped spur South Florida’s current fascination with indie crafts, Stitch Rock will bring 80 vendors slinging handmade clothing, plushies, baby and body goodies, hot-rod paintings, pin-up photography and other uncommon goods. Uncommon, hand-sewn crafts was all Linton wanted in a craft fair when Stitch Rock started in 2007, modeled after the shops she found on DIY websites like Etsy but nowhere else in the tricounty. “I’ve always been a crafter, making things for myself and friends, and my mom would sew at craft fairs at the local church,” Linton recalls. “But these are not your Granny’s crafts. These are skulls and crossbones, and I figured if people were making that cool stuff on Etsy, they were down here, too, and we just had to give them an outlet.”
Starry Night Photography
Stitch Rock veterans Danny Brito (jewelry, buttons and accessories), Our Lady of Perpetual Pickles (jams, pickles) and Lola Blue (handcrafted soaps) are among this year’s notable vendors. Food trucks PS561 and BC Tacos will hold court outside the gym, and the first 100 arrivals receive a free tote filled with handcrafted swag. Stitch Rock will sell $4 pre-sale tickets starting Sept. 1 at the Ink and Pistons shop (2716 S. Dixie Highway, #101), where Stitch Rockers will be treated to a bonus swag bag of stickers, coupons and memorabilia.
Stitch Rock will run 10 am-6 pm, Saturday, Oct. 1, at Delray Beach Center for the Arts at Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave., in Delray Beach.
Stitch Rock PRESALE tickets are NOW for sale at 2 locations!
Presale tickets are $4 and will get you past the line and inside a lil’ faster! (Don’t worry, both lines will have Swag bags!) AND Presale tickets also come with a lil’ bonus goodie bag at purchase. …and p.s. we stashed a few FREE tickets in random goodie bags JUST to up the ante 😀
So be sure to PURCHASE your tickets (CASH ONLY PLEASE) at::
Kismet Vintage
157 NE 2nd Ave, Delray Beach, Florida 33444 – 12noon-6pm
Ink and Pistons, Tattoos & Art Gallery
2716 S Dixie Hwy #101, West Palm Beach, Fl. 33405 – 12 noon-10pm
Admission is $5, free for children 12 and younger. Visit RockTheStitch.com
~Phillip Valys
