For many in Concord, it's a Saturday morning routine: Head downtown for the farmers market, wander from one table to the next, and load up on just-picked produce.

Yesterday, however, the wandering continued one block west at the new Concord Arts Market. Sacks of apples and tomatoes in tow, people perused the handmade products, which ranged from beaded bracelets and dangly earrings to brightly painted pottery and large landscape paintings.

"I just like to see what local people are doing, and I just love natural art," said Sherry Brink, of Concord, who stopped by the fair with her springer-foxhound mix, Zeke, on her way to the farmers market. About 30 vendors pitched tents behind the Laconia Savings Bank, and a steady stream of people, Brink included, were circling the lot yesterday morning.

Brink said she's been to the New Hampshire Craftsmen's Fair, but liked the Concord market's local feel.

"This," she said, "feels a little more homey."

Yesterday was the first installment of the market, which will continue the next two Saturdays. Katy Brown, the Concord seamstress who came up with the idea for the event, surveyed the scene, a smile on her face. Everyone was on time, she marveled, and ready to set up at 8 a.m., two hours before the fair opened. Many vendors beat her to the lot, she added.

"It was really smooth," she said. "I've sort of been obsessing about it the past three weeks."

Many vendors said yesterday marked their first participation in an art fair and called it the best opportunity they've had to display their work.

"I wish I could be a full-time artist, but I'm unemployed and broke," said Matt Barwell, 25, who was painting while people paused in front of his tent, looking at his work.

Barwell, who lives in Contoocook, had a number of pieces on display: Three paintings, side by side, of Celtics players Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, their mouths open and fists clenched, each captured in a heated mid-game moment. Just to the right, colorful geometric designs splashed across large canvases.

When asked to describe his style, Barwell called it "an urban, modern, abstract feel." He paused. "So I don't belong in Concord," he said with a laugh, adding that he didn't expect to sell anything.

"But it's good exposure," he said.

Krista Hassler, 26, had made a few sales, including mosaic end tables that she and her sister, 23-year-old Heather Hassler, designed. But their mosaic leg lamp was still up for grabs. At the center of the pair's display table, the shapely green leg, topped with a red fringed lampshade, was impossible to miss.

"We watched A Christmas Story about a hundred times," said Krista Hassler, of Dover, explaining their tiled tribute to the movie, which features a similar-looking lamp. "We wanted to stick to the classic fringe-y thing."

Hassler said she and her sister, who call their company Rambunktious Glass, have four more leg lamps in the works.

Across the lot, on a table at Ted Johnson's tent, a group of small wire structures twisted and turned in the sun. A toddler watched, transfixed.

"These are new solar pieces," said Johnson, of Dunbarton, pointing at the structures, which were labeled "Solar Powered Copper and Bronze Geared Things." He designed the pieces, which have a solar plate on their front and squeak as they move, "just for fun," he said. "I've got 10 on a glass table on my porch, and you should hear the racket."

Rick McPartlin had been walking by Johnson's Windscapes tent, browsing.

"I'm a law student. I'm not buying much these days," said McPartlin, who is in his second year at Franklin Pierce Law School.

But budget concerns hadn't diminished his curiosity. "I always come down to the farmers market," he said in between sips of coffee, "so I figured I'd wander over and take a look." (next page »)