Riverfront rocks as Chesterfest 2018 takes off
CHESTER » Chester’s creativity and cheer were abundant on the grounds of Talen Energy Stadium Saturday as thousands came to enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes that Chesterfest 2018 had to impart.
“The important thing about having it each year is to bring the community and families together and to just show the positive side of our city, to show the culture and the talent that we have,” Chester Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland said.
Hosted by Kirkland and City Council, Chesterfest was an opportunity to showcase artists from Chester and the surrounding areas, whether their expertise be oil paints, performance or the culinary arts.
The seven-hour event, initially started as the Riverfront Ramble, has been held annually for 13 years and about 12,000 were expected to attend throughout the day, which culminated in a riverfront fireworks extravaganza.
Gospel artist Jermaine Dolly, Washington’s premier Go-Go band Rare Essence, Shadows of the 60’s Tribute to the Temptations and the Latin band Tempo Alegre joined others by taking the concert stage throughout the day and entertaining audiences with their flair.
Big Var’s yellow truck joined the line of food specialties as patrons could buy his mango, cherry, coconut, pistachio, airhead green, grape and other flavors in sizes ranging from $1 to $8.
And although he’s been a staple both at the city festivals and in the city itself starting with his cart outside Chester High School 18 years ago, Saturday was special for him as his wife, Tiffany Flamer, was being honored by the city.
A model for two years and an elementary school teacher, Flamer was recognized for being newly designated as an ambassador with Ashley Stewart models.
“She’s going to be the face of Ashley Stewart,” he beamed with pride as he showed a mix of various modeling shots from his phone of the Chester beauty.
“It’s something positive, there’s a lot of good in the city,” Big Var said, adding that that often gets overlooked in Chester. “It just happens that we can have these role models in our community, that can turn a different leaf for us.”
Nearby, artists Eddie Graham and Kenneth Picasso of Abstract Kings Gallery had their art on display for sale.
“We’re both local artists, we’re both born and raised in Chester,” Graham said, “so it was the right thing to do to be here.”
Before him were tables filled with canvases, jackets and even a backpack that Graham had painted with images of characters and bold paint. There was also a mixed media piece featuring images of Michael Jackson on display.
He said he drew from being raised in the 1990’s and used a lot of characters such as the Simpsons that he liked.
Nearby, Picasso was busy working on an oil painting as vibrant music played from the soundstage and crowds walked by.
“We’re just artists, this is our livelihood,” he said. “We always do live art. If we’re not doing face painting, we’re doing mural paintings or something like that.”
In between mixing colors