Did you see the sensational mural behind the musicians at last week’s Market?
That’s the brain child of Grace Wan and Amy Yang, who plan and supervise Kids’ Events at the Market. Grace and Amy are the youngest members on the Market’s steering committee—they’re in high school!
For the mural, Grace and Amy worked with Marci Knutsen and Alicia Mizrahi of Museo Art Academy in Issaquah, who created the design and drew it on four interlocking pieces of 3’ by 4’ canvas. Museo is one of the Market’s sponsors.
Grace and Amy took the mural to Sammamish’s July 4th celebration, where kids of all ages dipped their paintbrushes into vibrant colors, swirled the hues onto the canvases and turned a giant coloring book into a lively mural that captures the spirit of the Market. 
Grace and Amy started volunteering at the market last year. While looking around for a community service project they could stick with through high school, they found the Market, volunteered at the Information Booth a few times, and then decided they would enjoy heading up Kids’ Events at the Market for this season. Beginning in January of this year, they started planning an engagingly fun crafts program for kids.
As Grace explains, “The crafts that we chose had to be something that everyone, meaning two-year-olds to ten-year-olds, could do and have fun with…. I looked through boxes (not drawers, actually) of work both my brother and I had done when we were younger. Also, I looked through books and websites for inspiration. All in all, inspiration for the crafts came from our own lives, and what we thought were fun. I have a long list of crafts that Amy helped me brainstorm, and I hope that we’ll be able to use them in the future for Kids’ Events!” Amy adds, “Also, when we went shopping for Kids’ Events supplies at Michaels and Joann, some of the materials we saw helped inspire ideas for future projects.”
Grace and Amy have crafts for the kids twice a month. The Market provides all the materials at no cost to kids or their parents. Just stop by at the Kids’ Event booth. Here’s their schedule for the rest of the season:
July 28 – Vegetable stamps. Stamp away with stamps cut from vegetables.
August 11 – Bubble blowers. Transform hangers into bubble blowers and have fun with a tub of bubbles at the Market.
August 25 – Windmills. Construct a colorful windmill.
September 8 – Vegetable animals. Put together fruits and vegetables to make wacky animals.
September 22 – Bookmarks. Make a beautifully decorated bookmark—just in time for school reading.
We at the Market look forward to more seasons at the Market with Grace and Amy as they go through high school.
