Sophy DiPinto remembers sitting on the washing machine in her parents’ basement, watching her dad, an English professor and avocational bookbinder, work with glue, bone folders, and craft knives to repair customers’ vintage books.
Now DiPinto uses those same tools to transform old books into one-of-a-kind journals, sketchbooks, boxes, lockets, or iPad covers. Her business, BookGrrl Bindery, will be one of nearly 100 vendors at Chestnut Hill’s Clover Market, an all-day festival of antiques, handmade goods, live music, and local food trucks, on Sunday, Sept. 7.
Clover Market, now in its 16th year, was the brainchild of Janet Long, who envisioned an outdoor festival of goods that would occupy the sweet spot between flea markets and high-end arts-and-craft shows.
“I wanted something that was price-accessible — a fun, in-person event where people could go and shop for themselves or others,” Long said. Clover Market began in Ardmore with about 30 vendors; now it’s expanded to locations in Bryn Mawr, Kennett Square, and Collingswood, New Jersey. The Chestnut Hill market kicks off the spring and fall seasons.
Long notes a surge of interest in handmade items, both on the part of makers who create their works as a full-time job or a side hustle, and from customers drawn to unique products. “They’re interested in supporting small businesses and having options other than buying something on Amazon or something from China,” Long said. “They’re interested in supporting people who are making things locally.”
Clover Market vendors include Philadelphia-grown artisans as well as artists and craftspeople from Maine to Virginia. They make everything from pickles to pottery, soaps to salsa, along with jewelry, leather goods, woodcraft, clothing, candles, and body care products.
A kid-friendly and pet-welcoming event, the market will also feature face painters, craft tables for children, and live music. Food trucks from Korea Taqueria, Redstone Pizza, and Many Hands Coffee will keep shoppers nourished.
Another of those trucks is the Honey Bear Ice Cream trailer, hailing from Harrisburg. Honey Bear founder Natalie Wallace has participated in Clover Market before, but this is her first year at the Chestnut Hill site.
She launched Honey Bear in 2021 after experimenting with recipes for dairy-free, gluten-free ice creams that ventured beyond vanilla and chocolate to replicate flavors Wallace remembered from childhood.
Wallace and her trailer have traveled to Connecticut, central Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia suburbs. In December, Honey Bear opened its first brick-and-mortar shop at a farmers’ market in Harrisburg.
Honey Bear’s menu includes 30 flavors, all with an organic coconut-milk base and non-GMO ingredients, made in a dairy-free and gluten-free facility. A bestseller is peanut butter ripple, with chocolate chip cookie dough running a close second. Another favorite is Supernaut, named for a Black Sabbath song. It’s a dark chocolate fudge with chocolate-covered coffee beans swirled in.
“Some nondairy ice creams are icy,” Wallace said, “but our ice creams are ultra-decadent, with a richer feel and a lot cleaner ingredients.”
Honey Bear will debut a fall-themed flavor — all Wallace will say is that it’s “apple-forward, with local apples” — at the upcoming Clover Market.
For DiPinto, who studied printmaking at the University of the Arts, Clover Market offers a chance to connect face to face with people who love and appreciate books. “All my pieces are hand-bound books using really traditional, old-world techniques,” she said. She usually starts with textbooks or pulp novels — often bought for $5 a bag on the final day of a library sale — then removes the covers, recycles the inner pages, and uses the book cloth and binding board to create something that is both new and nostalgic.
“It might have the cover of an old book, but it’s blank inside, or it has watercolor paper inside. I make a lot of stuff with marbled or patterned paper,” DiPinto explained. “A lot of people just love books: the visual aspect, the covers. My work is one-of-a-kind, and that has value in a world where that’s not usually a thing.”
DiPinto, who lives in Collingswood, has been a vendor twice at the Clover Market in Chestnut Hill. “Every time I go up there, I think, ‘Why don’t I live here?’ I enjoy being in the neighborhood. I enjoy the vibe.”
According to Long, Clover Market serves as counterpoint to the faceless experience of 21st-century digital commerce.
“People really crave that third space where they can go hang out with people,” she said. “You’re not meeting a sales rep; you’re meeting the person who made that beautiful mug, the person who sewed that clothing. They’re there in person, representing their work.”
And Chestnut Hill is the perfect venue for that interaction, Long said. “It has a super-strong community vibe. There are so many people walking or biking there. You see neighbors greeting other neighbors. It has that small-town feel, even though we’re in the middle of the city.”
Clover Market will be Sunday, Sept. 7, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Highland and Germantown Avenues, rain or shine. Bring your own bags. For more information, visit theclovermarket.com/pages/chestnuthillmarket.
