Youth arts festival: Two weeks of creativity and fun
This article was written collaboratively by the Adventures in Creative Writing Class at the Spanish Fork Youth Arts Festival. It is by Gardner Davis, Stuart Holley, Emmie Park, Maggie Petersen, Alex Woidka and Amy Baird (instructor).
Imagine walking into a class where food is so cool, you regret eating the delicious works of art. Food creations like pretzel ducks, kiwi turtles, bunny pudding and apple cars. Walk into another class and you will see a straw balancing on a bottle. The magician’s hands move toward the straw and slowly but surely the straw begins to spin in circles. Students around the room are practicing the tricks.
As you walk down the hall you hear the strumming of ukuleles as students sing. You look into another room and see people cutting fabric and beginning to sew quilts. In another room, little boys and girls are gluing pom poms onto black paper and blowing bubbles while wearing capes for Star Wars Art.
The Spanish Fork Youth Arts Festival is an annual event that gets kids involved in the arts. Classes are offered for children ages 18 months to 18 years old. This year, there were 70 classes with more than 600 individuals participating. The festival runs for two weeks with classes every weekday. The classes change from year to year, and every year brings something unique and fun. Classes go far beyond your typical drawing, painting and drama classes.
Some of the classes include Campopoly, where they make board games; Pinterest Party, where you make a pom pom garland; Cupcake Wars, where you learn crazy decorating skills like how to pipe and scallop roses; and Star Wars Arts, where they make capes and practice Jedi Arts.
The Youth Arts Showcase held on June 17 highlighted the performing arts. Little dancing princesses danced to “Baby Take a Bow,” magicians made pieces of string change size, kids showed off some sweet breakdancing moves, students performed on the ukulele, and “Aseop, Aesop” was performed three times.
The Spanish Fork Youth Arts Festival was a huge success. Everyone was sad for it to end. A student in Floral Arrangement said, “The best thing about the class is that you get to take these awesome flowers home.” Another student said, “My favorite floral arrangement was the root beer float made out of flowers.” Parents enjoyed it as well. A parent in Parent and Me Quilting said, “It gives the kids an opportunity to do something other than watch TV.”
The Spanish Fork Youth Arts Festival runs the second and third week of June every year. It is put on by the Spanish Fork Arts Council. It is a nonprofit event with funds raised from the class tuition and fees going to pay for the teachers, supplies and marketing. Class prices range from $35 to $75 for classes like Lego where you get to keep a Lego kit or a quilt-making class that includes all materials.