WEAVERVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — One Weaverville pottery studio is celebrating its 10th year around the wheel this Saturday with a community celebration.

The Reems Creek Pottery birthday party will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 23, 181 Reems Creek Road.

Refreshments, demonstrations and pottery prizes

To commemorate a decade of making art and as a show of thanks to the Weaverville arts community, the four Reems Creek Pottery potters – Rachel Smith, Eirene Peterson, Travis Burnette and Elaine Karpen – will offer light refreshments, live demonstrations and more at the weekend event.

“It’s fairly informal,” promised Smith. “We’re gonna have some light refreshments. We’re gonna have some pottery demonstrations, so there’ll be some wheel throwing and some handbuilding demonstrations going on throughout the time.”

Even if patrons don’t make a purchase from the studio, which will be open for business during the party, visitors will walk away with at least one small piece of pottery.

“Everybody who comes is going to get a free fidget, which is also like a worrystone, that all of us made,” Smith said. “We have probably at least 100 of them. So, we’ve made enough. I think everybody should be able to get one. If they don’t, they’ll get an IOU for one!”

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the folk musician David Dye will perform live at the event.

A chance to say thanks

While Reems Creek Pottery celebrates its milestone accomplishment, the potters want to honor the community that helped them get there.

“We really just want to have a chance to say thank you to the community for their support over these last 10 years, whether people have just given us good vibes or brought their friends in or taken lessons with us or, you know, shopped with us during a pop-up or an event,” Smith said. “We just want to thank the community for coming out and being part of our studio. We don’t survive without the community.”

In additional gesture toward the community at large, Reems Creek Pottery will donate a percentage of sales made during the event to MANNA FoodBank.

Pottery by Rachel Smith at Reems Creek Pottery.

10 years, 4.5 potters

As the studio looks toward the future, a new potter, Amelia Weber, will be joining the Reems Creek Pottery team while Karpen enrolls as a full-time student in the ceramic arts program at Haywood Community College.

“So, we’re going to be like four-and-a-half potters, but we’ll say five potters,” Smith laughed. “I’m really excited for her because I’m very familiar with the program, having toured the ceramic arts program a couple of times when we’ve had clay club over there, and it is a fabulous program. I know a number of people that have graduated from it and I think it’s really awesome that somebody from our studio has decided to do that. Like, she’s been here for five years. She started in September of 2020, and she’s like, ‘I need to take my pottery to the next level, and this is how I’m gonna do it.'”

Reems Creek Pottery will also host a pop-up market Saturday, Oct. 4, in addition to upcoming collaborations with local tailgate markets.

“I really feel that the Weaverville arts community has really grown and strengthened through the last few years, and I’m so glad to be part of it,” Smith said.

For more information about Reems Creek Pottery, visit www.facebook.com/reemscreekpottery.