Arts festival
While not receiving the crowd of supporters they expected the Cameron Arts Council feels it achieved its mission in showcasing area artists during last weekend’s Cameron Arts Festival.
Traditionally held July 4th weekend, the Cameron Arts Festival wrapped up its first year holding the event in the fall, which came with some complications but also created a foundation for future fall festival events.
“We were trying a different time. We’d done all of the other arts festivals over the Fourth of July,” Gina Reed, arts festival organizer, said. “Actually, we had better attendance than the one in the fall. We thought we would have better attendance at this one, but there are so many different things going on. That’s fine, but out of this year we discovered we do want to have a fall festival next year. It’s just not going to be the arts festival.”
Reed said she envisioned returning the Cameron Arts Festival to its original summer schedule, possibly in June, and will seek public input into what they want in a fall festival.
“A lot of people want a carnival-type event. I know that’s a lot of expensive insurance issues with the bounce houses,” Reed said. “The bounce house injury last year is what made us rethink Boo Fest. I want to do more interactive things. More stuff for little kids. The things I though went over well we should have advertised better. The costume contest, the pumpkin decorating contest went over really well.”
The festival kicked off last Friday night with a masquerade ball inside the Old School Building, then featured various artists, venders and musicians in McCorkle Park all-day Saturday as well as a display inside Frist Christian Church showcasing artwork from local students. Storytellers Barbara Drager and Stan Hendrix from the Cameron Historical Society shared tales of Cameron’s past while bands 7 Days Gone and Second-Hand Smoke kept the festival going into late into Saturday evening. For artist Suzi Fulton, she used the event to gain exposure and find a financial backer to assist in opening a studio in downtown Cameron.
“I would like to open up an art gallery here. If I can get in one of the buildings I can show not only my art and others as well,” Fulton said.
