Jerusalem International Arts and Crafts Festival

Once again at the end of summer,

there are lots of festivals on the streets of Jerusalem, Israel.

One of the most impressive is 

חוצות היוצר ירושלים

Khutsot Hayotser, the International Arts and Crafts Festival,

which may be hard to transliterate from Hebrew,

but it is hard to miss, right across from the walls of the Old City.

image Artist Colony Jerusalme

This event has grown for the last 40 years.

At least once a year the Arts & Crafts Lane comes alive.

There is an Israeli Pavilion with 200 Israeli artists and exhibits,

Hutsot Hayotser

Thousands fill the festival grounds

photo three clowns, image clowns

and some entertainers really stand out.

photo Nir Barkat

Mayor Nir Barkat was there on opening night and posed with potential voters.

mayor at arts festival, image Mayor Jerusalem

Making the rounds, he stopped by Hadassah College’s Neverland booth.

Each night of the festival a major Israeli musical performer stars,

 and last night Barkat introduced Shlomi Shabat to the Sultan’s Pool audience.

חוצות היוצר ירושלים

No Israeli event would be complete without food.

It was hard to push your way through the crowded main food court.

image Jerusalem crowd

Families found places to sit, eat, rest and listen to music.

The International Pavilion had booths from Asia,

DSC_4550b

South and Central America, Europe, Africa and United States.

arts & crafts fair Jerusalem

Bulgaria had a prime location, but their stuff still was still stuck in customs.

image Turkish Muslim in Jerusalem

India was well represented.

image vendor at international arts fair

The nice lady of South Korea had a variety of fans.

Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Guatemala,Turkmenistan and Madagascar,

Angola to Zimbabwe and more: so why not Canada?

image African dress

Popular African musicians were among the many international entertainers.

iamge Khutsot hayotser

This huge event will host tens of thousands of Israelis from August 5-17.

image clowns, picture news broadcaster, live news from festival

The Israeli news Channel 10 was there live for opening night.

But as usual,

no matter how large or how many people are out on the Jerusalem streets,

if there is no violence,

it’s not worthy of the mainstream media’s attention.

Jerusalem: Exhaustion in August

Most of Israel may be on holiday in August, but in Jerusalem

things begin to heat up and not just the weather.

After the three sad weeks leading up to Tisha B’Av,

 mourning turns into serious celebrating,

with wedding season and festival time. 

During the first week of August,

"photo Israel Museum"

 the Israel Museum hosted a successful Israeli Wine Festival.

Festivals once again range from,

" picture sign in Hebrew", "Image J Street", "photo Hebrew sign "

an International Puppet Festival to a beer festival at the end of the month!

Schools are out and summer camps are over,

so it is time once again to keep the kids busy.

"khutsot Hayozer"

Khutzot Hayotser, The International Arts and Crafts Fair,

near the Old City in the Sultan’s Pool, with its

"photo arts and craft fair"

 huge stage for nightly entertainment has been held for almost 40 years.

Running from August 6-18 and  similar to recent years,

"picture kites", "photo J Street", "image Art festival"

food, local artists’ works and international crafts are for sale.

A relative newcomer to the August festival season is the Balabasta Festival,

 held on Sunday nights in August in Machane Yehuda Market, the shuk.

"photo shuk", "image machane yehuda market"

Some businesses closed early,

"fruit market picture"

but others were well stocked.

Balabasta seemed more small child-friendly than it was last year,

"photo puppet show"

with puppet shows,

"photo balloons"

balloons,

"juggler"

balancing acts,

"juggler"

a juggler and a 5:00pm advertised start time.

By 6:30 pm, the laundry was hung and the alleyways were getting crowded.

"puppet"

I caught a familiar face from last year

as he was coming out of a store,

"puppet'

and he quickly gained new fans.

"music"

There was music of all kinds

"art with seeds"

and art of many types,

"photo art"

culture in Jerusalem is so varied it can be hard to define,

and to take it all in can be exhausting.

It is probably impossible to attend all the Jerusalem festivals,

but if you want to try, here are a few more  suggestions and

 more Balabasta photos on The Real Jerusalem Streets Facebook page.