The members of the Pottery Festival Committee have full time jobs, families, and homes to maintain. There are plenty of ways to spend their free time aside from meetings, fund raisers or tramping through the state’s other festival’s in search of Ohio’s best potters and crafters. The Festival’s Ambassadors, The Pottery Festival Queen and her Attendant, are high school girls accompanied by a court of Junior High and Elementary school girls. We’re quite sure they have better things to do on the weekends from July to December and May through June than broil or freeze on their float. So why? Why in the world do these people jump happily and with enthusiam into the huddle in support of an annual festival celebrating pottery?
Aside from the fact that the manufacture of first quality pottery is part of our heritage and the crown jewel of our community, the people that make this ware are our friends, neighbors, brothers, sisters, and parents. We’re proud of who they are and what they’re doing.
People like the owners and staff of Hartstone Pottery. 
The Harts founded their business in New Jersey in 1976 on a stoneware cookie mold and built their reputation by making hand painted, top quality kitchen ware. They moved the business to Zanesville in 1983 because of our area’s reputation for pottery and continued to grow despite the influence of cheaper foreign imports. In the mid-1990’s the Harts sold the business to Carlisle Home Products and by spring of 2005 Carlisle had closed the doors on this once flourishing business leaving most of the factories employees without jobs.
A group of investors heard the story and stepped in to negotiate with Carlisle for purchase of the business. By June of 2005 The Original Hartstone Pottery Inc. was once again up and running with a new surge of life and creativity. Drawing on the knowledge and talent of craftsmen with years of experience, they established their mission which includes this from their mission statement:
We, the employees of Hartstone, are the current stewards of an ancient craft, perfecting and making beautiful the combination of earth, water, and fire. This tradition, born of necessity, continues to be important to the vitality of the region and its people, many of whom carry on the tradition of several generations of potters. The master craftsmanship that is too often lost in today’s fast paced world and economy is alive in this place. Our pottery heritage is as much a part of the local tapestry as is the Appalachian countryside that surrounds us. The passion of our craftspeople and partnership with our customers sustains us.
Hartstone is making microwave, oven and dishwasher safe, lead free, handcrafted ware perfect for any home. Visit their website at www.hartstonepottery.com for information on touring their factory, or ordering on-line. Come and see them now at 1719 Dearborn Street in Zanesville, then don’t forget to come and see them again at the Pottery Festival in July 2008.
