Mistletoe Market

For more than three decades, Jane Falion has been hosting an annual holiday market. It has been through “four or five different iterations,” she said, but the current version, returning Thursday through Saturday at her home in Okemos, features eight to 10 artists selling their work. 

“This year, we have a woman who makes these beautiful fractal wood-burning bowls, as well as three-dimensional scenes with felted characters and some other things along that line. We have a woman who does a lot of mixed media. I have a lady coming in who does poured resin designs,” Falion said. “I have an author coming in. He does jewelry and painting, but he has also written three children’s books. I have another woman who is Ukrainian, and she’s a sous chef. She’s coming with desserts to sell, which I’m really excited about.” 

Falion herself creates jewelry and hand-painted maps of Michigan tourist spots, such as Tunnel of Trees, Grayling and Glen Arbor.  

“Any of the big towns that we all sort of recognize from vacations or cottages and stuff,” she said. “And they’re all hand-drawn and hand-painted.” 

She will also sell a collection of scented candles representing a breadth of Michigan locales, from Okemos and East Lansing to Traverse City and the state’s many beach towns. 

The market will open Thursday with a preview party, featuring hors d’oeuvres, alcoholic and nonalcoholic punches and homemade desserts. 

“I’m hoping that my Ukrainian pastry baker brings something for that,” Falion said.  

She has decorated her home to get attendees in the holiday spirit.  

“It’s a wonderful, easygoing boutique to come to,” she said. “People will probably be able to do a lot of shopping, because we’ve got such unusual gifts, but it’s just a fun event, whether you shop or not. You come, you talk to people, you meet other people.”