This year Norman Music Festival welcomes Dust Bowl Arts Market into the mix of events to happen April 25. The open-air market featuring local artists and their handmade wares will open at 11 a.m. Sunday and run till 5:30 p.m. in the parking lot on the corner of Gray Street and Crawford Avenue.

Dust Bowl Arts Market made its debut in Norman in August on Campus Corner. The late-summer event featured live bands as well as arts and crafts from several vendors.

Organizers of Dust Bowl Arts Market, Katie Huskerson, Reese Truesdell and Dana Fisher, have 40 vendors lined up to display their goods. The three masterminds behind this event are quick to brag about the large amount of Norman talent that will be represented this time around.

“We have really amazing vendors this year,” Truesdell said. “Most of them are from Oklahoma, with a few from Texas. We also have both students and faculty from the university participating in the market.”

The OU printmaking club will have a booth at the event to sell some of its works.

Truesdell and Huskerson make note that Dust Bowl has a younger and more alternative vibe compared to other craft shows. The vendors will sell various types of handmade pieces, everything from jewelry to paintings. One vendor will have vintage clothing for sale.

The decision to work with Norman Music Festival this year was an easy one for Huskerson. They had incorporated local music into the first market and were happy to join forces with NMF to bring Norman a complete arts experience.

“We started Dust Bowl because there was nothing else like it in Norman and I think that Norman is a creative town,” Huskerson said. “I knew a lot of other people making handmade things in Oklahoma and I wanted to have a show that was beneficial for the people selling the goods and that promoted an exchange of community.”

Truesdell said he was pleasantly surprised at the growing amount of interest around Dust Bowl.

“When we were planning the first one we were recruiting vendors,” Truesdell said. “This time we had to turn down as many applicants as we accepted. The talent level of these vendors is aggressive.”

All of the organizers will have booths at the event. Huskerson and Truesdell both have stores on Campus Corner currently. Huskerson owns Birdie, a flowershop, sustainable housewares and clothing store. Truesdell is the owner of Wild Hare Beadery, a bead shop where he teaches jewelry classes and sells his own pieces.

Another Dust Bowl Arts Market is already in the works for this upcoming August.

To see a full list of the vendors participating in this spring’s Dust Bowl Arts Market visit www.dustbowlartsmarket.com, or check out Truesdells store at wildharebeadery.blogspot.com and Huskerson’s store at thelittlebirdietoldme.blogspot.com.