St. Pete’s New Heartizaar Market Embraces Dark Side Of Valentine’s Day

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — After back-to-back hurricanes canceled first her annual Hauntizaar market and next, her Christmas season Holizaar market, Coralette Damme, an artist who creates under the name The Crafty Hag and founder of St. Pete Craft Heroes, wanted to come up with something new to support St. Petersburg-area artists, makers and unique vendors.

“Everybody was in recovery here (after the storms) and it just didn’t make sense,” she told Patch. “It’s been a wild year, but I wanted to do something to keep the series going.”

She’ll host her first Heartizaar: A Dark Art & Gift Market on Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club. At least 30 vendors will participate in the market.

Heartizaar will replace Damme’s regular spring market, Shopizaar, as she was always uneasy about the event’s name.

“I always felt a little off about it. I love that people came to buy stuff but hated having that (‘shop’) in the name of it,” she said.

A dark celebration of Valentine’s Day also aligns with Damme’s work, as well as the aesthetic of many of her regular vendors.

“I always make spooky Valentine’s stuff for myself and I know other people who do, so I’ve always thought that could maybe be a show,” she said. “It’s fun and I think it fits what we do.”

After earning an art degree from the University of Nebraska and spending some time in Minnesota, Damme made her way south to St. Petersburg. It was a different, quieter city at the time with a burgeoning arts scene.

She hosted her first market in 2007 at St. Pete Shuffle.

“We wanted to host some craft shows as a way to get interest into the shuffleboard club,” she said.

After hosting various themed craft events, she was messaged by her eventual collaborator, Shannon Schaefer, who helped her grow the markets.

“She asked if we needed volunteers and I thought, ‘This person is crazy,’” Damme said. “Being super introvert-y, this was the weirdest thing I ever heard of.’ But I was like, ‘Let’s be craft heroes.’”

Damme added, “That’s the St. Pete Craft Heroes origin story.”

They hosted events throughout the region, including Craft Emergency as a benefit for the Red Cross and Mega Craft Zilla at Dinosaur World in Plant City.

“We’d look for a nonprofit with green space and be like, ‘We’ll do an event for you,’” Damme said.

She went on to work in an administrative role for the Studio@620 in downtown St. Petersburg for 17 years and moved her markets to that art space.

“Now, I’m back to where I started” at St. Pete Shuffle, she said.

Though Damme moved to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area about four-and-a-half years ago, she continues her events in St. Petersburg to bring opportunities to artists and makers in the region.

“When I was in St. Pete, it had this complete rebirth with an arts focus and I was part of that. That was where I really found myself creatively; that’s my family,” she said. “Those people who create and support art in St. Pete are my family and you support your family. We helped people want to come here more than the beaches and anything else back then. That’s a source of pride for me. I’m grateful to have been there at the right time. I learned so much about what art can do for a community.”