“La Fete des Voisins” (Neighborhood fair)

Running every Friday, from September through June, Cagnes-sur-Mer’s neighborhood street fair is a weekly event. As it was Mother’s Day in France this particular day (different day than in U.S.), there were stands selling jewelry and other ‘girly’ merchandise!
Local artisans surround the main, central square with their stands and happily discuss  their specialties, taking pride that it is made locally by hand:  jewelry, odds & ends, gift ideas, and other works of art.

I met the lady who was displaying her “Santons Ceramiques,” figurines of village life — a Provençale specialty (usually made of clay). She informed me that she does demonstrations by appointment in her workshop, located in the Var (in a small village outside of Nice) and kindly shared information about other local events.

As I wondered around window(less) shopping and browsing each stand, I took note of the “like a mother’s” pride that the vendors had for their products and their efforts in keeping the aspect of cultural craftsmanship vivant (alive)!