Downtown Edmond, Norman May Fair arts festivals celebrating creativity this weekend
Parker Srnka, 4, Edmond, drinks an Old Time root beer at the 2009 Downtown Edmond Arts Festival. (Photo By David McDaniel/The Oklahoman Archives)
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Creativity celebrated with 2 Oklahoma City area festival
Two springtime traditions are giving metro area art lovers, families and festival enthusiasts plenty of ways and reasons to celebrate creativity this weekend.
To the north, the Downtown Edmond Arts Festival will enliven several city blocks today-Sunday with an array of artwork, live music, children’s activities and more.
To the south, Norman’s May Fair Arts Festival will bring fine arts and craftsmen, festive foods, story times and other attractions to Andrews Park today-Sunday.
Both festivals are free.
Members of the Edmond Faculty Band perform at the 2009 Downtown Edmond Arts Festival. The faculty band will again play at this year’s festival on Sunday. (Photo by Doug Hoke/The Oklahoman Archives)
Downtown Edmond Arts Festival
The 31st annual Downtown Edmond Arts Festival will showcase more artists than ever before, with about 120 artists from across the country displaying their wares, said Leah Kessler, Edmond Downtown Business Association manager.
Edmond pharmacist and photographer Patrick Hall has been selected as this year’s celebrity artist. Hall has traveled around the United States and even internationally in his work developing breast cancer clinical trials, and he typically packs his camera to capture intriguing images, from stained glass illuminating a Swiss cathedral to the sparkling aftermath of an Oklahoma ice storm.
“He’s just got a really interesting story, and his work is beautiful,” Kessler said.
More than 20 food vendors will peddle “lip-smacking, mouth-watering food,” including Indian tacos, kettle corn and fried catfish. The event also will include the Othello’s Spaghetti Slurp-Off pasta-eating contest, wine tastings and art demonstrations.
Youngsters can take in hands-on craft activities, face-painting, pony rides, a giant slide, a moon walk and a rock-climbing wall.
Musicians Edgar Cruz, Justin Echols, Stephanie Jackson and newcomer Bob Edwards will make the event sound festive. A festival mainstay for at least a decade, Latin American folk band Inkapirka again will make the trek to Edmond from Wisconsin.
Organizers plan a jazzy finale to the event, with jazz bands from Edmond Memorial High School, Sequoyah Middle School and the 145th Army National Guard playing.
“That’s going to be a fun Sunday afternoon,” Kessler said.
The festival is sponsored by Downtown Business Association and presented by Wimgo.
Jan Hunt and Anna Parker of Norman look at jewelry made by Amy Foster during the 2009 May Fair Arts Festival in Norman. (Photo by Steve Sisney/The Oklahoman Archives)
May Fair Arts Festival
Sponsored by the Assistance League of Norman and supported by local businesses, the 36th May Fair will feature about 70 fine artists and craftsmen, from woodworkers and glass blowers to photographers and sculptors.
Rory Morgan, an Edmond resident who grew up in Wyoming, is the May Fair 2010 celebrated artist. Morgan, who specializes in landscape and wildlife paintings, will demonstrate and discuss his work at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
In addition, the festival will include a student art show, art demonstrations and hands-on art instruction, said Jeri Saliba, May Fair marketing chairwoman. For a small fee, youngsters can make a rope, pot a plant, create a kite and more in the always-popular children’s art yard.
Also for families, the Norman Public Library will offer storytimes at noon today and 10:30 a.m. Saturday, and the animated movie “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” will be screened at 7 tonight for Family Fun Night.
“It is a family-oriented festival, but it is a juried art show. So, we pride ourselves on the vast array of artists and the quality of the work there,” Saliba said.
The event will offer a wide array of live entertainment, too, such as the Roosevelt Jump Rope Club, Not Just Country Line Dancers and Sooner Theater Group. Musical performers include Maggie McClure, Blinding Broadcast and Jump Seat.
Festival-goers can sate their hunger on a variety of fair foods, including gelato, corn dogs, cinnamon rolls and the like.
“May Fair isn’t really a fundraiser for the Assistance League; it is our gift to the city of Norman. But any proceeds go to our main project, Operation School Bell,” she said. The program annually helps clothe 1,200 children from the Norman and Little Axe school systems who are in need.
GOING ON
Downtown Edmond Arts Festival
When: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Downtown Edmond.
Information: 249-9391 or www.downtownedmondok.com.
May Fair Arts Festival
When: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Andrews Park, 201 W Daws, downtown Norman.
Information: 321-9400 or www.mayfairartsfestival.com.
-BAM
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