Vendors to this year’s Prickly Pear Festival will be enjoying a bigger venue by displaying their wares in the old Superior High School gymnasium thanks to Elisha Cardon. The old high school anchors the east end of Superior at 98 High School Street and has the old student parking lot for prickly pear shoppers. Here are a few of the vendors who will be selling their products.
Daystar Studios: Marilee Lasch, Superior artist, will be selling hand painted prickly pear pots with cactus; desert paintings; beaded jewelry; and prickly pear cocktail picks.
Chocolates by M Joseph: features a stunning prickly pear truffle, with other truffles, caramels, toffee and chocolate galore. What is not to like?
Aprons to Purses: Leslie Ireland has a plethora of handmade items, some with prickly pear and cactus motifs and others just to make you feel good.
Verlin Joplin: another Superior artist promises walking sticks, handmade jewelry and cactus lamps to share another side of what you can find in the desert.
Gold Canyon Embroidery: Ray Hussein will have a big booth full of cactus and desert tee shirts, knives and other gifts that will appeal to everybody.
Mynd’s Eye Art: Bill Vogler of Superior has some great metal art featuring stars, crosses and picture frames made with desert finds of bullet casings and railroad spikes and old rotten desert wood. A great recycling art!
Sandra Rodriquez: from the Salt River tribe promises us some stunning Native American jewelry.
Superior Sweets: shares her signature Prickly Pear Cookies as well as other cookies and goodies ranging from prickly pear licorice to taffy and will also showcase some of her Folklorico and Day of the Dead shirts as her Something Fishy Shirts line.
Arizona Cactus Ranch: Natalie McGee will bring her Prickly Pear Fruit Spread, Prickly Pear Candy Squares and Prickly Pear Nectar from her ranch in Green Valley.
Desert Gatherings: Mr. Dunn from Chandler will not be outdone with his prickly pear lollipops, prickly pear popcorn (!), prickly pear cactus candy, as well as jams, jellies, syrup, candies and trail mix.
The word here is bring your appetite as well as your pocket book and find something that appeals to you in a prickly pear world!