Art for Dudes by Dudes

After regularly visiting art shows with his fiancee, Mathias Noble King says he realized there were only two or three vendors selling "dude-oriented stuff."

"I was finally like, Why don't I just make a show that collects all of these guys I've met throughout visiting all these other craft shows and call it Manly Mart?" he says.

Once he pinned down a location for the show, Mahall's 20 Lanes in Lakewood, King also found 17 male vendors to display their creations June 8. "They are selling everything from vintage to handmade items," he says. The manly wares on sale include cycling bags, books, furniture, watches and more.

One of the vendors, Nate Mucha, owner of A Hot Mesh, a design and alternative printing firm, will be rolling out a new brand, The Manly Gent, which includes goods for guys such as tasting journals, wearable items, posters and other products.

"If you have the meat journal, for example, as you find different kinds of meats, you can place them on the scale we have and make notes about it," Mucha says. "That way the guy has like a little address book of meats he has tried."

Although the event is named Manly Mart, King hopes to draw in the opposite sex, too. "I thought that saying it was a dudes-only vendor show would actually attract more ladies to buy the stuff for the dudes in their life," he says, especially with the show being right before Father's Day.

Photo courtesy of Alex Catanese

Visitors to the free show, running from noon to 6 p.m., can also enjoy bowling, drinks and food as well as music from Cholly and Plumjam.

"I know people want this to happen next year, so I want it to be an annual thing," King says. "Vendors are pretty excited, and everyone seems pretty enthusiastic about it."