“Yart Sale,” a long-running Northside event that gathers several vendors together to sell their art, goods, and services, returns this Saturday.
The festival began in 2021 during the COVID-19 lockdown, when co-founder Dana Schriever was asked by her friend to “come sell your art on my porch.”
“I didn’t have the money to pay to be at a City Flea or anything like that. Plus, it was the height of the pandemic, so there wasn’t much going on. I was like yeah, sure, why not,” she said. “I made a few prints of my stuff, and a lot of people came and it was really fun. Actually, the guy I’m now engaged to was at one of the first Yarts and bought a work from me.”
Fast-forward to now, and the Yart Sale has exploded in popularity in the last five years. Each one is themed in some form or fashion; this weekend’s event is no different. Called “Yartlantis,” as in the mythical underwater city, it will feature over 30 vendors from 4 to 8 p.m. this Saturday at local event venue Heart of Northside, located at 4222 Hamilton Ave.
Yart Sale events happen on a semi-regular basis, and each organizer—Schriever, Bee Stewart, Niki Fiorenza, Mia Kling and Erin Seccia—combs through tons of vendor applications to make sure the most interesting items are being spotlighted at each sale.
“All of us vote on each vendor, and we go based off the questions they answer in the applications. And then we make sure we have a variety of art forms and that’s kinda it. We’re absolutely open to anyone, no matter the skill level. This is an original creative space with low stakes and a high payout of joy,” Schriever said.
Vendors at each Yart Sale are all over the place in terms of items on hand. Participants have sold everything from prints to tufted rugs to stickers to their fortune-telling services. This weekend’s event will feature a tattoo artist and a shirt-printing station where guests can get one of several designs printed on their clothing.
“We keep our costs low so that anyone can participate. We have the lowest fee of any vendor market in the city at just $25, and that’s intentional,” Schriever said. “We’re a volunteer-run organization. None of us are making any money on this. It’s a passion project.”
She continued by sharing how “rewarding” it is to see people come and engage with the vendors at each event.
“I especially love being a resource for younger artists who are trying to get into our local art vending scene,” she said. “It creates an opportunity for a lot of college-age artists to come sell without the exclusivity of paying, like, $200 for a day. We get to see them grow throughout the years while vending with us, whether it’s art prints, jewelry, clothes, or whatever, and then they go on and do other art markets after doing ours for their very first art market ever, which is really cool to see.”
Other than admission costs, the only profit Yart Sale sees is from their bake sales and raffles at each event—the items for which are fully provided by vendors, although Schriever said “they could give us a paper clip for the raffle, and we’d be like, great!”
Being a fully independent, volunteer-run organization means that the Yart team can do whatever they want—which allows for art spaces that are sorely needed in the local area, according to Schriever, because sometimes the local art scene can be very “exclusive.” She says that the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is still affecting socialization in ways we haven’t even begun to process yet.
“This is really a place for everyone, and I think that’s what separates us the most. And post-COVID, a lot of people are still looking for their thing to do, and for people that have similar values to them, similar goals,” she said. “It’s filling a role for artists who don’t have infinite budgets, or people who aren’t super well connected to larger organizations. This is a place for creatives to come together and talk to people who truly understand.”
For more information on the Yart Sale this Saturday and beyond, visit their official Instagram page.
