The festival, which runs from noon to 7 pm on Saturday at the Grove Street PATH plaza and along Newark Avenue west to Jersey Avenue, is being organized with the Jersey City Craft Mafia. More than a concert or a food market (although it will indeed be both), the festival will feature dozens of local artists and artisans, merchants, nonprofits and other vendors (JCI will be there, so be sure to come say hi). There is a full lineup of live music scheduled for Saturday as well (see schedule below), and plenty of family friendly fun, like face painting, storytelling and a bounce house.

The festival will also showcase some of “the hottest food trucks in the metro area,” HDSID operations manager Nikol Floros tells JCI.

That list includes some trucks well-known to Jersey City foodies, like Taste of India, Lucinda Creperie, Home by the Range and Two Pitas in a Pod, as well as some that don’t usually come to Jersey City, like Korilla BBQ, which was recently featured on the Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race. Other trucks in the lineup include Coolhaus (ice cream sandwiches), Luke’s Lobster (lobster rolls), La Bella Torte (desserts), Mama Marci’s (pasta, hot dogs, salads and sandwiches) and Gorilla Cheese NYC (grilled cheese sandwiches).

“The HDSID created this event to showcase Downtown to Jersey City, and the rest of New Jersey, as a cultural destination,” Floros says. The event falls in line with the other regular events the organization oversees, like the Groove on Grove series of free outdoor live music and the twice-weekly farmers market at the Grove Street PATH plaza. The overarching goal of all the events, Floros says, is to make Downtown Jersey City a better place to live, work and visit and to spur the local small-business economy.

“All those interested in supporting their local economy should come,” she says. “Anyone and everyone should come check out what Downtown Jersey City has to offer.”

MUSIC LINEUP:

Noon: Beninghove’s Hangmen
1 pm: Sandra Small and the Smallworld Band
2 pm: Ghetto Folk
3 pm: Fort Courage [vintage country-pop-folk]
4 pm: Art House Productions demo
4:30 pm: Aminal
5:30 pm: PHWG

The daylong festival, which will run along Newark Avenue between Grove Street and Jersey Avenue, will feature live music, food and drink, more than 10 food trucks, and plenty of folks selling handmade wares.

If you’re interested in doing the latter, the festival organizers want you to fill out a quick form expressing your interest — the deadline for doing so is Sunday, August 7.

If you just want to chill out and enjoy the latest street festival to call Jersey City home, it’s even easier: just mark your calendars and wait until September 17.

Whether they were there for some last-minute holiday shopping or just to socialize with Jersey City’s craftiest folks, hundreds of people showed up at Grace Church Van Vorst on Sunday for the Jersey City Craft Mafia’s Handmade Holiday Market.

“The community’s overwhelming support for shopping local from area artists this holiday season is what made the Jersey City Craft Mafia’s Handmade Holiday Market a huge success,” event organizer Luca Cusolito says. “Thank you to everyone who came out to show some crafty love.”

The event is a good way for Jersey City residents to skip the mall and shop directly from local vendors; JCCM expects to have more than 40 on hand. There will also be live demos and tutorials for attendees to make their own stuff, whether its LED ornaments or stockings. It will be free for shoppers, but JCCM will encourage all attendees to donate $1 to the church’s Breakfast Plus program, which provides breakfast for the community’s hungry every Sunday.

Interested vendors or instructors can secure a six-foot spot with a non-refundable $10 fee. On-site tables will be available, but you’re encouraged to bring your own. To sign up, click here.

For more information, email Luca Cusolito at luca.cusolito (at) gmail.com.

And that’s where you come in (if you’re crafty, that is).

JCCM is currently looking for local crafters — both “professional” and amateur — to highlight in the series; if you’re chosen, they’ll feature a photo of you at work in your studio space and your story. The framed photos and stories will be up at Art House for the entire Studio Tour weekend.

If you would like to be considered, email the following to luca.cusolito (at) gmail.com by next Friday, September 24:

• 200-word minimum description of what you make; include your inspiration and how you got started
• Photos of you, your work and your workspace

Sure. Yes. Those are all good options, but this past Saturday there was a better option, and one that, I’m afraid, not as many of us took advantage of as we should have — “Designer Days: Handmade for the Holidays” at the Jersey City Museum.

The atrium section of the museum was transformed into a veritable shopping mall of gift ideas — all local, green and artsy — from members of the Jersey City Craft Mafia and _gaia. There was a wide assortment of jewelry, clothing, hats, ornaments and original artwork on sale, all expressing the diversity and vivacity of our little city.

And if that wasn’t enough, I had the chance to attend a lecture by Leon Yost and Cynthia Harris in which they showed slides and commentary from their new book Changing Jersey City, A History in Photographs. The slideshow took the audience on a tour through long-forgotten rooms in the old Jersey City Medical Center, on a ride on the old elevated train, to the locations of the oldest public schools in JC and face to face with many of the people that made our city what it is today. (Unfortunately, I missed our mayor’s musical performance of holiday tunes — but you can’t win ‘em all.)

The overwhelming impression I had as I walked back home through the rain to my apartment is that there is so much here in Jersey City that many of us don’t know a thing about. There’s the history which some great writers and historians are doing their best to make us aware of, from Bob Leach to Yost and Harris to James T. Fisher, an author I’ll be profiling here in a couple of weeks.

But in addition to the history, there’s an entire present that too many of Jersey City’s residents know too little about. There are events like “Designer Days” going on all over the city, there are artists and craftspeople, musicians and writers, theater groups and scholars doing work here that is worthy of so much more attention than they receive, due, in no small part, to our proximity to our overbearing big brother.

But the good news is we can remedy this. Check the calendar here at JCI for the latest on events, read the daily News Roundups and Best Bets, read the other local media, and get involved in what is going on in our city.

In her presentation, Harris showed pictures of well dressed young people sitting around a checkers board at one of the city’s many athletic clubs of yesteryear. She noted that in lieu of anything better to do, this is how our historical counterparts passed the time. And she showed a picture, and explained the use of, a dance card.

But we don’t need checkerboards and dance cards; there’s so much going on, all we need is to be a part of it all.

The Jersey City Craft Mafia’s founders (l-r): Stefanie Flodmand, Luca Cusolito and Chris Maguire

Photo: Emily August

Of all the mafias that may or may not have been meeting in North Jersey on a rainy night earlier this month, it’s likely only one of them was gathering over organic cookies. In a basement apartment on Christopher Columbus Drive, the nine members of the Jersey City Craft Mafia (JCCM) were reflecting on their first major hit — the Art Attack craft fair they held at Club H on April 26 — and planning for the summer ahead.

Founded in January, the JCCM aims to be a networking hub and event-planning powerhouse for Jersey City’s diverse craftspeople — from jewelers, knitters, and digital artists to screen printers, painters, and handblown glass artists. It’s three founding members are dripping with craft cred. Luca Cusolito, a web and graphic designer, also runs the vegan bath and body care company Lollibomb; Stefanie Flodmand owns a Jersey City–based dog walking business as well as Trashed Clothing, which focuses on screenprinted wearables and pop-culture inspired jewelry (including an acrylic Golden Girls necklace that’s recently garnered a lot of buzz); and Chris Maguire is one of the founders of the online handmade marketplace Etsy.

The Jersey City Independent recently sat down with Cusolito and Flodmand for a chat, and these godmothers of local crafting discussed what the community can expect from them, and why now, more than ever, crafters need to stick together.

Jersey City has a well-established art scene — why a group specifically for crafters?

LC: In terms of multimedia or visual arts, there’s a wonderful array of galleries and openings in Jersey City — there’s always something to do, which is part of the reason I chose to live here instead of hauling my cookies to Bed Stuy or some place in Brooklyn. But in terms of handmade goods, you don’t see that as much. The Craft Mafia seeks to bring to light functional, houseware-type goods and handmade items — jewelery, wearables, bath and body products. You’d never see a bar of soap showing at 58 Gallery or a Golden Girl necklace on display at Lex Leonard. We also all make things that are affordable, nothing is really outlandish in price.

SF: An individual artist is going to tend to be more independent. They might partner with a gallery or interact with a curator, but for the most part they’re working alone, whereas our events are about building community. We’re very group-oriented — everything we do is beneficial for the group. Everybody brings an element to the table, everybody’s ideas are equally important to us. It’s important for us to be close-knit and tight. We’re like a little mafia family, if you will.

What are the goals of the JCCM?

LC: Since we started we’ve had numerous mixers, gotten together to meet local artists, and we planned the Art Attack show, which had 29 vendors and about 400 attendees. Most of the vendors were local, but we had some members of the Richmond Craft Mafia and the Washington, D.C. Craft Mafia. We also started Friends of the JCCM, which gives opportunities to other small business owners or people who don’t have time to commit or who are out of the area — ad opportunities, for example. We take out pages in niche appropriate publications, like Bust magazine or the Venus zine. With the recession, all of a sudden working 9 to 5 isn’t enough. People are turning to their crafts to see how they can make some extra money. Entrepreneur magazine just reported that more businesses are starting up involving handmade goods. So we want to build a community. We want to show people that you can build a business and be successful.

SF: Everyone comes to the table with different backgrounds, resources, and connections. We try to encourage that if someone has a particular skill, they offer that to everyone within the JCCM and Friends of the JCCM. Someone might want to build a website, for example, and Luca is good at that. So we’re trying to start a group that people can turn to for certain things, that can provide certain resources. We’ve done all types of craft shows and people come to us for advice, so maybe we can give people the confidence to go out and do a show. But maybe someone else can bring something to us that would be beneficial that we never thought of.

There are other Craft Mafias in other cities — what’s the history of the organization?

LC: The Craft Mafia originally started in Austin, Texas, in 2003. They’ve since gone on to organize massive craft show events in Austin; some of them have shows on the DIY channel or sponsorships with different craft products. They’re a bunch of super-motivated, ambitious chicks! At this point, there are about 50 craft mafias internationally — they’re in Canada, the U.K., there’s a new one in Glasgow. The most recent addition is in Philly, and other than that, closest to us, there are mafias in D.C. and Richmond. The New York City Craft Mafia has actually disbanded.

I started the Hollywood (Florida) Craft Mafia, and when I moved here, I saw there were a lot of crafty people in the Jersey City area, and I put feelers out to people — including Stefanie, who I’d known online for a few years. When I moved up here I had an instant friend. We were like, we definitely have to do a craft mafia. We started in January of this year with three members, us and Chris Maguire, one of the founders of Etsy. We put a call out to the community online, and from there we built our group.

Are there particular challenges for craft business owners in this economic climate?

LC: The hard thing at this time is you have to be dedicated to what you do, and willing to put in extra effort. You have to adapt. It used to be like, “Sure, I’ll just do some advertising,” but now it’s getting to where you have to think creatively — using viral marketing and free resources like a Facebook fan page or Twitter. You have to be very careful what you’re spending your money on, and get creative about using the community — draw on each other’s resources and trade services. We’ve tried to do hand-in-hand things with local businesses, so we’re both benefiting.

There’s strength in numbers. People can feel a little powerless when there are outside elements making it hard for people to get where they want to go. But people are taking back their lives by using resources and connections. It’s good to feel like a part of a community when the nation is going through a hard time. It’s good to get out of the house, get together with other people and have a good time. So we’re trying to make people excited to take part in an event. We’ve held some open mixers for anyone who wants to come — it’s just a good social atmosphere, and we try to keep things inexpensive so anyone can join them.

What’s in the works for the rest of the year?

LC: Starting in early fall and winter we hope to start teaching classes in the community. We just did an illustration class at the Stockinette, which everyone left with a finished three-panel comic. Stefanie and her mom [jeweler Laurie Pasternak of Prim at Heart] are considering doing a wire-wrap jewelry class. I’m considering doing classes in how to get started on Etsy, which will teach people when to list, online branding, stuff like that. We have such a large group of talented people with varied interests. We’re hoping to do one or two classes a month.

SF: We’re going try to have a Jersey City–based holiday craft show. And we’re in the process of working on the permitting to do a street festival in Hoboken, where we’ll have a tent and 30-40 vendors. That would give people the opportunity to check out handcrafted wares, and grab a beer and a hot dog on the street. It’s exposure to arts and crafts, but it’s also so that people that live in the neighborhood can come out and meet their neighbors. We want to have things happening that will be fun for everybody. We’re not a craft clique, we’re trying to build a crafting community.

For more: www.jerseycitycraftmafia.com

- Ian Sacs of Planetizen issues a call to transportation reformers to advocate for a bike/pedestrian tunnel from New Jersey to Manhattan.

- David Cruz shares some very personal encounters with racism, one of which helped get him kicked out of his high school, and one of which happened last week.

- The peripatetic Marie Javins makes the case for taking out med-evac insurance if you travel abroad.

- Dancing Tony is back from Barcelona and back to calendaring JC nightlife.

- Life Vicarious runs down what’s new in dining on the JC waterfront.

- Emily August (of go go distro) plugs the Jersey City Craft Mafia in a guest spot on Draw & Quarter (she is looking for volunteers for an upcoming event.). Earlier in the week, Emily had obliged James (of Draw & Quarter) by reporting on his pompadour. If you need more context, or just want to know about an exciting pompadour outing, there’s also James’s own account of JC Fridays. Also, there’s even more pompadourage here, courtesy of the people who brought you all this pompadour talk.

- I Blog What I Eat is back in JC with a very concise rundown of a recent experience at Downtown Italian spot Bertucci’s.

- New York’s Sixth reports on some of the new retail Downtown. Grove Pointe is getting a Tasti D-Lite. (You know the stuff: it’s almost ice cream, and it’s almost yummy.) Liberty Harbor now has organic dry-cleaning and soon will feature a Manhattan-style deli.