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Steamboat Springs Arts Council’s 41st annual Art in the Park to have new additions this year

Audrey Dwyer
Art in the Park attendees walk through West Lincoln Park while enjoying the festivities. The 42nd annual Art in the Park will be July 9 and 10 this summer.
Matt Stensland

Be on the lookout for...

Artists:

Leo Atkinson - local "rock guy" who also is a sculptor

Brian Sutherland - National favorite who has intricately detailed flown blown artwork

Frederick Prescot - large scale sculptures with rustic looking finishes

The Beer Garden:

Featuring more shade, picnic tables and local beer

Entertainment:

There will be non-stop entertainment with We’re Not Clowns, powerhouse singer and guitarist Sarah White-Crane, local favorite Trevor Potter and Latin jazz guitarist Dave Bullard

Kid's Zone:

The raptor booth will return featuring large birds

New addition is the large Bouncy House

Face painting

Sand art

— At the annual Art in the Park, local Leo Atkinson continues to see a familiar occurrence year after year.

As one of the featured artists at the event bringing fossils and mineral geodes, he gives children and adults their first experience of opening one of these naturally imperfect masterpieces. It’s a moment that comes with a look he knows well — one of uncertainty, surprise and pure excitement.

Be on the lookout for…

Artists:



Leo Atkinson – local “rock guy” who also is a sculptor

Brian Sutherland – National favorite who has intricately detailed flown blown artwork



Frederick Prescot – large scale sculptures with rustic looking finishes

The Beer Garden:

Featuring more shade, picnic tables and local beer

Entertainment:

There will be non-stop entertainment with We’re Not Clowns, powerhouse singer and guitarist Sarah White-Crane, local favorite Trevor Potter and Latin jazz guitarist Dave Bullard

Kid’s Zone:

The raptor booth will return featuring large birds

New addition is the large Bouncy House

Face painting

Sand art

“There’s something magical about it,” said Atkinson, known as the “local rock guy,” who sculpts the colorful, crystallized geodes he acquires in Mexico. “The fun part about this weekend event is that those kids I met here when they were younger are now bringing their kids. It has this hometown aspect to it.”

Known as the Steamboat Springs Arts Council’s biggest fundraiser, the 41st Art in the Park will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday in West Lincoln Park. Funds raised from this event will help support the SSAC’s visual arts programs, as well as the Young at Art summer arts camps.

“Art in the park is just so fun because the whole family can see and do so many things,” said Scott Parker, with We’re Not Clowns, one of the entertainers at Art in the Park since 1997. “The kids love running around and creating art themselves, and the vendors really do incorporate something for everybody to enjoy. The artists that come are so diverse each year it’s fantastic.”

New additions this year include the beer garden, which will feature picnic tables, a 20-by-20-foot tent and a shade installation made from banners donated by Mainstreet Steamboat and colored by vibrant, hand-painted artwork by local artists. Local beer will be provided by Butcherknife Brewing Co., and domestic beers will also be available.

For kids, there will be a bounce house, the raptor booth, hands-on sand art, face painting and more.

Another new component to Art in the Park will be the continuous entertainment all weekend provided by local performers We’re Not Clowns, powerhouse singer and guitarist Sarah White-Crane, local favorite Trevor Potter and Latin jazz guitarist Dave Bullard.

“People who attend are not going to look at just one form of art, like all oil painting, but they will see that Art in the Park has every type of artwork, from crafty pieces to very high-end fine art,” said Haley Ballentine, assistant to the executive director at the SSAC and coordinator for the 41st Art in the Park. “They will find something here that excites them or engages them in some way, and I think that’s why we keep having people come back year after year.”

Ballentine said the 125 artists are producing creative, high-quality, handmade goods. She also explained that roughly 60 percent of the artists are returning from previous years, and 40 percent are new to Art in the Park.

“One thing I have definitely found in Steamboat is that everybody here is so friendly, encouraging and supportive,” said Judy Cummins, who will be an artist at Art in the Park for the first time with her handmade “Wild for the West” leather purses. “The arts community here is so welcoming and accepting. I think people choose to come here and share their work because of that.”

To reach Audrey Dwyer, call 970-871-4229, email adwyer@ExploreSteamboat.com or follow her on Twitter @Audrey_Dwyer1


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