Arts & The Park a success, organizer says
While it was delayed several months, the 2020 Arts & The Park festival was still a success, an event organizer said.
Originally planned for late April and early May, the festival was postponed to late September and early October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mary Zunick, executive director of the Hot Springs Area Cultural Alliance, which hosts the event, said when they moved the festival, they wanted to come up with ideas to display the work of the local arts community, and “keep people safe” at the same time.
“I think we were still able to put together a festival that did all those things,” Zunick said. “I would say it was a fantastic success, especially for 2020.”
Events such as the virtual studio tours, Chalk Walk, a children’s book giveaway and a virtual cooking class were all successful, she said.
During the virtual studio tours, videos were used to show off the artists’ studios in place of live tours. The videos were on the cultural alliance website, “and will permanently be there,” Zunick said, noting an art teacher told her their class has used the videos.
While Zunick didn’t know exactly how many children participated in Chalk Walk this year, she said five different schools were involved so they had more students participate than ever before.
Almost all of their books were taken by children during the book giveaway, she said, with each child able to get either an art kit or a book kit to go with the free book. All of the kits were given out.
Zunick said it’s important because it teaches children to “not just read because they have to, but because they love to.”
Executive Chef Josh Barr of Eden
Restaurant gave a virtual cooking workshop.
“It was great. It was so much fun, everyone loved it,” Zunick said, noting they had around 18 people cooking along with Barr.
“Chef Josh did a fantastic job. It worked out great, and we hope to do another one in the future,” Zunick said. “The food was fantastic.”
“Art Moves,” the festival’s outdoor art installation at the Hot Springs Creek Greenway Trail, will remain there for the rest of the year, she said, noting Chris Baber with Hot Springs Parks and Trails helped install the artwork and there were “a lot of rocks” he had to deal with while putting it in.
Zunick said she also wanted to thank all the volunteers who helped bring the festival to life, including Donna Dunnahoe.
The 2021 Arts & The Park is scheduled to start on April 30 and Zunick said they have “preliminary plans” already started.