Right now everywhere around us, the chatter is about a little parasite called Cyclospora. I hope I’m getting that spelling correct, it’s a tongue twister for sure. Don’t you dare ask me to attempt saying it, it’s hard enough writing it. It’s a nasty little bug that causes what the whole media is calling explosive poo poo…actually they don’t use the word poo poo, but I believe you understand what I mean.

I’m seeing so much when it comes to the fears with this little parasite. You can’t blame us though, we did go through that other bug not too long ago. I was at one of those healthy grocery stores where everything is extremely expensive, all good stuff apparently, and they were having a hard time selling lettuce and pre-made salads. Every 5 minutes they were announcing over the intercom that they had some delicious salad mixes at the deli section….and no one was going, no one.

And today we all went to visit a grocery store where we don’t have to worry about any sickness coming with it because you can’t eat it. It’s all made of felt. Which for some reason I thought was a little funny. Going to a fake grocery store, and staying away from that explosive stuff…yeah, just have a day of looking at food art. Actually it was really fun, I really enjoyed it. Something positive instead of something negative.

The artist behind this grocery store exhibit is named Lucy Sparrow. Her and her co-workers spent months working on this newest exhibit of hers. Every single product in this store was stitched by hand. The products are based off of 1980’s and 90’s products.

In 1995 Lucy Sparrow was gifted with a little stuffed banana from her father, then later that year she would receive a larger one in her Christmas stocking. The stuffed banana has now become the mascot for her company.

Sparrow even has what she calls The Banana Room. A space in her studio that is covered top to bottom with soft bananas. She goes there to relax and be in her own words…” be surrounded by happiness” . What a fun place to create, at least I think so.

So….I thought I share some of the things we saw today. We went early as always, right before it got too crowded. It’s so hard taking photos when it is elbow to elbow and this is a popular exhibit.

It’s so amazing to me that once again I am reminding everyone…every item in these photos is made of felt.

My husband’s favorite part was the snack bar area. It had plates of food from the cafeteria in the grocery store.

My favorite area was the fruits and veggies area. I just loved all the colors and the happy smiling faces of those fruits and veggies, they were so cute.

Another really creative section was the entertainment area. There were all kinds of VHS tapes of popular movies from that time and music as well.

They also had all kinds of magazines. I remember Tiger beat as a teenager. I could not believe the detail put into every product. The work involved in this grocery store is amazing.

There was even a pharmacy. There were medications behind the counter, under the counter, and on the counter. Every detail was thought of in the making of this felt grocery store.

The outside of the grocery store had all the items you would expect to see out at a grocery store from the 1980’s and 90’s.

The candy section was the most popular section. Many people spent a long time looking over all the different types of candies. Some of the candies I had never heard of. Maybe the artist was mixing in British candies too. The woman speaking over the grocery intercom had a British accent.

You couldn’t touch any of the items. There was a basket out front where they had some of their items to touch that you had to bring back once you were done walking through the store.

Oh…and meat and dairy. On and on it went. They even had outside bulletin boards like they did back in the day. Hope you all in enjoy seeing the photos, it was one of my favorite art exhibits I have seen this year so far.

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