Saturday, Plainfield's decades-old Outdoor Festival of Art in Library Park got off to a credible start at being rebuilt.
Though much reduced in size -- I counted about twenty-five active booths -- most of the artists and craftspersons I spoke with were pleased and, more importantly, were making sales.
Dave Wynn and his small band of volunteers are to be credited with pulling the affair together on quite short notice after the City took over from the festival's original sponsors.
The representation of area artists was a pleasant surprise -- there were several folks whose work I had never seen before. This made up for the lack of other local artists who have shown over the years and whom I certainly hope will return for next year's show.
However, the success of a true arts festival is the breadth of artists and craftspersons who exhibit. That means that to continue rebuilding the festival, the Recreation Division has its work cut out for it. Of course, having a year to prepare will help, but the City might be well-advised to throw a little money into paying an arts-connected consultant with some business savvy to do the recruiting of artists and craftspersons. This would be money well-spent.
Lining up food vendors and entertainment are the kind of thing that the Recreation Division can do with its eyes closed, so a division of labor here would help both David's crew and the overall product.
Changing from mid-July to early September may be one of the best things to happen. Though it was plenty warm, it was nothing like the record-breakers I have seen in past years at the July event, when both artists and visitors would be driven to near-collapse by the heat.
When the festival attracted thousands of visitors from the tri-state area, it was also an opportunity to show off Plainfield's other attractions, and nonprofit cultural and community organizations of all kinds mounted information tables. This should surely be built up, too, and not just with an eye to explaining ourselves to Plainfield residents, but to outsiders who may know very little -- and that not very positive -- about Plainfield.
As such a diverse community, we need to remind ourselves constantly how important it is to include artists and craftspersons of every ethnicity. Hispanic and Asian artists were noticeably absent and that is something that can definitely be improved upon.
Blocking off Arlington Avenue between 8th and 9th for vendor vehicles was a definite improvement over using College Place and had the perhaps unintended but definite advantage of clearing sight lines to the steps of the Library where the music was set up. That is something that should definitely be part of the planning process. In the past, food vendors often cut off all opportunity to see musicians and performers on the natural stage of the Library's steps.
The only real misstep which some artists spoke to me about was the definitely flea-markety atmosphere having vendors of such things as lotions created. I only spotted one such table, but I think the artists were right: an arts and crafts festival is one thing, a flea market is another.
Overall, the Recreation Division and the festival's volunteers should be commended.
Things are off to a good start.
Attendees: Please chime in with your take! Leave a comment.
-- Dan Damon
View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.
Posts
