Spring’s Craft Fest was a big hit.

The fall installment of GO WEST! Craft Fest is coming to the historic Woodlands cemetery this Saturday (Sept. 29), bringing over 50 super crafty vendors and their work. You can find all kinds of handmade stuff at the festival – artworks, cards, prints, clothing, ceramics, jewelry, natural bath & body products, toys, edibles and more. With holidays coming up, the Woodlands this Saturday is the place to be (don’t forget your holiday shopping list). You can check out the vendor list here or visit the event’s pinterest board.

Besides the vendors, there will be live entertainment and fun for the whole family. Here’s the schedule:

Noon: Perseverance Jazz Band, swinging NOLA-style standards
1 p.m.: The Citywide Specials, an authentic bluegrass band
2 p.m.: Jay Sand of All Around This World, engaging world music for kids and their families
3 p.m.: Tinycircus, aerial flights of fancy presented by Tangle Movement Arts

So come support local small, independent businesses this Saturday (rain date – Sunday, Sept. 30).

The Merry Wives of Windsor in Clark Park. July 2012.

A fundraising campaign is currently underway to help bring more free Shakespeare shows to the neighborhood. Some of The Merry Wives of Windsor shows this past summer were rained out and end-of-performance red bucket donations were half of what is needed to make next year’s show possible. To support Shakespeare in Clark Park, please visit The Red Bucket Campaign page and submit your donation.

NOTE: The fundraising campaign ends on Sunday, 11:59 p.m.

Artist’s sketch of centerpiece concept (Redcap’s Corner owners Benn and Adam slaying a unicorn).

Our favorite local neighborhood game shop needs help with a great project involving a local artist. Redcap’s Corner (3617 Lancaster Ave.) has started a Kickstarter campaign to fund a mural in one of their roleplaying game rooms. If they can raise enough money local artist Alyssa Deville will paint the mural. Particularly generous supporters will be rewarded by being included in the mural. You could get your name on the mural for $25 or your likeness for $75.

Please follow this link to learn more about the project and to donate.

Update: The project has made its minimum fundraising goal, but there’s still four days left for people to make themselves part of it. “Any money we raise over and above our minimum goes toward paying Alyssa better for her work,” says Benn Roe, one of the shop owners.

Check out the project video below.

The Philly Fringe festival is back this month with its usual wide array of performances and venues. Many of the programs will take place in West Philadelphia. For the full list of festival events and to purchase tickets, see the Live Arts/Fringe Festival website. Highlights of local neighborhood events, in no particular order, include:

• Monsters: A Workshop and Happening on Sept 16, 3 pm at the Penn Museum. Participants will work with artist Douglas Repetto to make a herd of moving tables that will be set free among the artifacts.

• Le Mirage/Dead City Philly by DysFUNctional Theater. Sept 10 and 11, 8 pm at the Rotunda. A 1892 novella reimagined as a rock opera and set in modern day Philadelphia. Debuted at the Fringe festival in 2011 and back by popular demand.

• The Legend of Nahia by Duende Musical. Sept 7, 8, 12, and 15, 7 pm at the Calvary Center, 801 South 48th St. A story set in an imaginary town in Spain about a a female survivor of sexual assault healing through music, art, story telling, and dance.

• You Don’t Say by Tangle Arts Movement, Sept 13, 14, and 15 at 8 pm with a special show at 3 pm. Although the venue, Philadelphia Soundstages (1600 N. 5th St), is not in West Philly, neighbors are probably familiar with the group’s outdoor show in Clark Park, Tiny Circus. Their Fringe show purports to include a rope, trapeze, and a dinner table as the performers explore relationships and miscommunication all while defying gravity.

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Curio Theatre is hosting a Benefit Gala and an auction to raise funds for Curio’s new, second stage located in the basement of the Calvary Center. The event will take place on Saturday, Sept. 15 at St. Francis DeSales (47th and Springfield) and will include a live and a silent auction, an open beer and wine bar, a meal catered by The Gold Standard Cafe, and live jazz music from Dr. Ketchup. Tickets are $50 (adults), $45 (students/seniors), $90 (couple), $450 (table/10 tickets). If you would like to donate an item to the auction, please call (215) 525-1350.

For more information and to purchase tickets please visit this page.

Community Supported Arts, a program recently launched by the Philadelphia Folklore Project, is modeled after traditional CSAs, but instead of fruits and vegetables shareholders receive one-of-a-kind works of art from local folk artists.

This is how it works: Nine artists each make fifty unique pieces of art for fifty shareholders, so each shareholder receives nine pieces of art. Shareholders will get a chance to meet the artists at an exclusive preview party and dinner at PFP on September 21. The collection of art will be ready for pick up on December 7 at another shareholders-only dinner party with artists.

Each share costs $350+tax and can be purchased Saturdays at the Clark Park Farmers’ Market, online or by mailing a check to PFP’s gallery at 735 S. 50th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19143.

The participating artists are: Ra’sheeda Bey, Alma Luz Castro, Maisaloon Dias, Stephanie Hryckowian, Christina Johnson, Eric Joselyn, Marta Sanchez, Pang Xiong Sirirathasuk Sikoun, and Matthew Smith. You can stop by the PFP gallery to see a sample of each artist’s work.

PFP staffer Thomas Owens will be at Clark Park Farmer’s Market (43rd and Baltimore Ave.), from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Saturdays with information about the program. You can purchase a share directly from him. For more information, visit this page.