A bigger family arts experience

People attending the fourth annual ArtsCape festival can look forward to a bigger and better event that offers something for all members of the family, according to event organizers.

"It will be just like Riverfest, but family oriented. We're trying to make it a total family experience," said arts council director Becky Fulgham. She referred to the Cape Girardeau outdoor festival which brought thousands of people downtown for 21 years until ceasing operation after the 1999 event.

The arts council is sponsoring ArtsCape along with Old Town Cape, a volunteer organization that aims to revitalize the downtown area.

To make the festivities more child-friendly, this year's ArtsCape will feature a children's tent with a number of arts activities for children, including spin art, weaving, origami, face painting, sand art, jewelry making and bookmark making.

Children and children at heart also can enjoy free balloons and entertainment from magicians and street performers.

Live music will be going on throughout the day in the Hutson's Furniture parking lot at 43 S. Main St.

The Suzuki All-Stars kick things off at 10 a.m. The rest of the day offers performances by the Southeast Brass Quintet, Doug Rees, Bruce Zimmerman, Bailey Jester, and The Cantrells.

At 4 p.m., two duos, Bailey Jester and The Cantrells, will perform together for the first time.

Both are Nashville-based acoustic folk acts who have performed in Cape Girardeau before. The Cantrells are a husband and wife duo, and Bailey Jester is made up of two brothers (see story in Arts & Leisure for more).

More musicians as well as a magician and storytellers will perform from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the arts council galleries.

Festival split

The first two ArtsCape festivals were held in conjunction with the City of Roses Music Festival, but ArtsCape organizers decided the events served different purposes and decided to go their own way in 2003.

"Last year we were just hoping the event could stand on its own. It was more or less an experiment," Fulgham said.

Although high winds put a damper on things, Fulgham said she considered last year's ArtsCape a successful experiment.

Planning for a larger festival started in the fall.

"We have a super-energized board that came up with a lot of ideas," Fulgham said.

However, not everything about this year's festival is new.

Events making a return to ArtsCape include a street painting contest and improved arts and crafts booth offerings that include jewelry, pottery, woodworking and stained glass.

This year, all the vendors were juried, meaning they had to submit slides of their work and pay a fee to operate a booth.

Local artist Craig Thomas is in charge of the street painting contest, where individuals and groups compete to see who can create the best art on the downtown pavement. The competition is divided into group and individual categories, as well as a high school age group and an age group for people over 18. Contestants decide between three different sizes of space to work in, get a box of pastels and go to work.

Thomas said the event brings in people with different levels of experience. Some participants have been doing street painting for awhile and come from St. Louis and Kansas City, but most of the contestants will be local residents.

Last year the street painting festival resulted in 39 images on pavement.

Arts for All is a painting program that allows people in wheelchairs to create their own art with special equipment attached to their wheelchair.

About 20 downtown merchants will hold sales both inside and outside of their stores.

"We want to encourage people to shop at downtown merchants, so we're not blocking their storefronts," Fulgham said.

McGinty Jewelers at 117 N. Main St. will feature an outside demonstration where gold will be melted and made into nuggets available for sale.

"We just thought it would be different," Chuck McGinty said. "Most people have no idea how jewelry is made."

ArtsCape also will mark the end of the fund-raising campaign to re-create James Parker's downtown mural at another location.

Parker's mural of a steamboat on the Mississippi was Cape Girardeau's first mural, but planned renovations for the building where it's located means it will be destroyed. The arts council formed a committee to find a new location for the mural and raised money for the repainting through selling raffle tickets.

The mural will repainted on the side of the building that houses Mollie's Cafe and Bar on Spanish Street.

During ArtsCape, an original painting Parker created for the occasion will be raffled off.

"We are really excited about it," Fulgham said of this year's ArtsCape. "Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that the weather will cooperate."

kalfisi@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

Want to go?

What: ArtsCape Spring Arts Festival

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday

Where: Pavilion parking lot across from Hutson's Furniture and the galleries at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri

Info: Call the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, 334-9233