Freak Storm Nails Vendors

While organizers of Concord's Market Days Festival last weekend were able to get the event back up and running within hours after a thunderstorm causing major damage along Main Street, a number of vendors were financially harmed by the storm with some, completely wiped out, according to sources.

The storm hit before midnight on July 20, just a couple of hours after the second day of the festival ended for the night. Most vendors had gone home but were called back in the early morning hours after the damage was discovered. 

No one was physically hurt in the storm. But a number of vendors suffered financial losses and heartache after losing important artistic inventory.

Saad Hindal, an artist from Iraq who is often at the Concord Arts Market and has contributed artwork to the Intown Concord general meeting auction, lost all of his paintings, more than 30, in the storm.

Michelle Lienhart of Just Be T-shirts and accessories also lost everything – her tent, inventory, everything – she said in an email. However, luckily, she noted, the items were insured, so her policy will cover the losses.

Paul Haigh of Wiley Hill Mudworks, a potter, from Londonderry, lost a number of pottery items he brought to sell when his tent was destroyed by the storm. Haigh, who was just accepted into the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, said he didn’t bring everything he had to the festival but lost some items that he had had for a long time.

“It was almost cathartic to see it go,” he said.

Haigh planned on doing more kiln work before the League show at Mount Sunapee in August so he should have more items to sell in the future.

A bigger concern to Haigh though was the damage to custom made wooden displays he spent thousands of dollars on to highlight his work. However, the person who constructed the displays quickly fixed them, sanded them up, and put a coat of finish on them.

Overall, the festival was a financial loss though, he noted.

“On Friday, I broke even, and Saturday … that put us into the negative,” he said. “I would have broke even if I didn’t have the storm.”

Haigh said he will continue to come to Concord, where he often sells items at the Saturday Arts Market in Bicentennial Square.

“Katy (Solsky, the organizer of the arts market) is great. The people are great. The community is fantastic. You can make a few bucks too. We really enjoy it,” he said.