Atomic Holiday Bazaar Adds Art Show To Mix

Where else can you get a boombox that was born as a suitcase than the Atomic Holiday Bazaar?

The seventh annual indie craft fair with a pledge to provide crafts that won't make you puke returns Saturday and Sunday with a special art show and party planned Friday night.

And given there is a party and a late night happy hour planned at Shamrock Pub the night before the show, please don't mind the hungover vendors.

"Hopefully my vendors won't get too trashed and will show up on time," said bazaar founder and producer Adrien Lucas. "We are all known to be heavy drinkers. We like to hit the sauce."

She kids, she kids. We think.

If all goes well, the tongue-in-cheek fair will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium and the Bay Front Room. Admission is $5 for adults; children 12 and under are free. (Visit Saturday, keep your ticket stub and come back Sunday for only $3.)

It pays to be punctual at Atomic. The first 100 adults at the show receive tote bags with indie swag and show coupons passed out by the Quad Squad Roller Derby League.

Atomic Art Show

The Friday night Atomic Art Show is hosted by sponsor 529 Clothesline Gallery, 529 S. Pineapple Ave., who is also doing the screen printing on the giveaway tote bags this year.

"There's always a thread to Atomic that leans to more of a rock and roll flavor," Lucas said. "It definitely has the Atomic flair as far as what's submitted and chosen for the fair."

The show lasts from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday and the juried exhibit runs through Dec. 15. The Friday show features music by Brian Boyd and beer by Shamrock Pub.

Atomic Holiday Bazaar

The tongue-in-cheek fair is serious on finding cool stuff that you can't find elsewhere, selecting about 170 vendors for the show.

Take Dome Candy Lab for instance.

The Crescent Beach, S.C.-based company features two dudes going all do-it-yourself on vintage wooden cigar boxes and leather luggage to turn them into fashionable boomboxes. 

They're affordable, but more on the high end of the scale of what you'll find at the show, Lucas said. These creations can go for $300 to $1,000 depending on the model offered on the website.

Tampa-based Dark Cycle will make their Atomic debut selling T-shirts with amusing drawings on them, including a series of animals riding bicycles—fox, alligator, whale, flamingo and even a badger in a suit.

While you're shopping for the holidays, Brian Boyd and DJ Iche will provide the tunes.