Silly Little Guys: DIY Festival Kid Row

It’s that time of the year again! The Utah State Fairpark opens its gates to the 18th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival presented by Harmons. Being Utah’s largest local-centric arts, music, science and technology festival, DIY Fest is a three-day event. Experience the best of our state’s creative culture with over 500 local artists and makers, three stages for music and dance performances, a youth entrepreneur area, a STEM building with hands-on exhibitions, dozens of food vendors and more. Kids of all ages and dogs are welcome — find more info and get tickets at craftlakecity.com!

For 15-year-old artist Lily Barney, most of her inspiration comes from the internet. Her creations include an acrylic painting of a Tide Pod tree, a chalk drawing of handsome Squidward and bedazzled sunglasses that read “I WILL OUT-PIZZA THE HUT.” One wall in her bedroom is dedicated to a mural of all 151 first-generation Pokémon. “It was the biggest thing I’d ever painted,” Barney says. Most artworks, like that one, she keeps for herself. But her mom, a graphic designer with a booth at the DIY Fest, encouraged Barney and her sister to start selling their art alongside her own. “Last year was the first time that I just did it by myself,” she says.

It was Barney’s mom who first gave her the idea to make and sell Silly Little Guys, small magnets made of painted animal figurines glued to wooden plaques. Barney describes it as “taxidermy, but without the actual taxidermy.” Each character gets a backstory, many of which involve silly little crimes: robbing Bath & Body Works, abducting Target employees, selling black market kidneys. Her favorite is a frog named Mermit. “He was Kermit’s brother,” Barney says, “except he was a loner and opened a bed and breakfast, so his name was Mermit the Hermit.”

At this year’s DIY Fest, Barney will be selling jewelry dishes, bookmarks, bedazzled glasses and, of course, Silly Little Guy magnets. “Whatever I find funny is what I like to sell,” she says. Find Barney’s booth in Kid Row on Saturday, August 8 from 12-4 p.m. —Asha Pruitt

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