Arts in Rees Park 2019 another success story
Published 10:28 am Thursday, September 12, 2019
- The girls are the winners of the high school art competition. From left are Georgia Eberhardt, Furlow Charter School; Rylan Youngdale, Southland Academy; and Haley Summerlin, Americus-Sumter High School. Each was awarded a $50 cash prize.
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By Beth Alston
AMERICUS — Over 500 enjoyed the annual Arts in Rees Park event, sponsored by the Americus-Sumter County Arts Council held Saturday in Rees Park. Organizers said it was a perfect day for the event, in spite of the heat.
Brooks Nettum, president, Americus-Sumter County Arts Council, said everyone enjoyed the entertainment, food, demonstrations, and vendors between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Actors from the Georgia Southwestern State University Theater Department were costumed as Commedia Clowns and entertained the crowd dancing to live music. Other actors demonstrated staged combat.
Throughout the event, The Warp Orchestra provided live entertainment from the gazebo while
members of the Georgia Southwestern State University Theater Department cavorted throughout the crowds with theatrical jests and characterizations.
Attendees had many options — from puppet shows to glassblowing and ceramics demonstrations, to storytelling, children’s arts activities and games, to great food and multiple vendors offering myriad wares.
Various organizations and agencies also set up spaces to provided information to the attendees. Those included the Sumter Humane Society with pets to adopt, Rotoract, Books for Sumter, Sumter Players, Sumter Cycling, Sumter County Intermediate S.T.E.M. Class, Furlow Charter Middle School, Americus Kiwanis Club, Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, and Americus Fire & Emergency Services.
In addition to sidewalk chalk art competition, there was also art competition with Americus-Sumter High School, Furlow Charter School, and Southland Academy participating.
Multiple vendors were onsite to provide quick sketches, earrings and dolls, pop art, jewelry and silver, ceramics and paintings, screen prints and collages, quilts, honey, candles and lotions, tiny paintings, baked goods and wood products, and bookmarks.
All that made for some hungry children as well as adults and there was much to choose from for lunch and/or snacks: Pat’s Place Pizza, Big Willy’s Seafood, Americus Snoball & Shaved Ice, Perry Wellness Center, Habanero Grill, Small Cakes Kristy’s Cotton Candy/Fried Pickles/Fried Oreos, and Annie & Sisters funnel cakes/pork rinds/kettle corn/bloomin’ onions and boiled peanuts.
Brooks Nettum thanked the sponsors of the popular event: Georgia Council for the Arts, Century 21, Miller Auto Parts, Farmer’s Seed & Feed, Americus Times-Recorder, and the City of Americus.
