Betty McCready is looking forward to visiting with a lot of old friends at Art in the Park in Petrolia this weekend.

The Windsor woman who is the artisan behind Transformed Treasures is returning to Petrolia this Friday and Saturday for her fifth year of Art in the Park. McCready takes old silverware and transforms it into jewelry or angels and does the same for old tea cups.

“This is a good way to spread grandma’s silverware around,” she says.

McCready’s loves coming to Petrolia saying of the 15 shows she is involved with each year, she sells the most at Art in the Park. But that’s not why she loves the show.

“The setting is beautiful and the committee is wonderful; they really cater to their vendors and they have maintained a very high standard for vendors coming in,” she says.

“The committee has really made that show.”

But it is also the people strolling through the park which make McCready’s weekend. Sometimes the people helping at her booth are disappointed if they talk to a customer for a while but don’t sell anything. That doesn’t bother McCready in the least.

“If they want to buy it and take it home, that’s great. But if they want to enjoy it for the five minutes they’re at the booth, that’s fine, too.”

McCready’s low-pressure attitude means she spends a lot of time talking to the people who stop by and she says they’ve become like old friends.

“I love meeting the people – and people come back…I can carry on a conversation with someone and tell you details about them, but I couldn’t tell you their name,” she says with a laugh.

“You get to the point where you chatted with them enough it would embarrassing to ask what was your name.”

artisan category – different people appeal to different things

the friend who often helps me at the booth – upset when people left without buying

have no need or desire to buy it because I have so much stuff already….enjoy it and admire it without buying