Art and music will be on display at Art Harvest

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- A music and art festival looks to draw more people to downtown Charleston this fall.

The Art Harvest will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the corner of Stark and Cypress streets in Charleston, with a wine tasting by River Ridge Winery, food, a band and interactive art demonstrations.

The event was organized by the newly formed Charleston Society for the Arts. The group aims to take more of a contemporary approach to modern day arts, according to the organization's president, Kerry Davis.

"We really started from an old organization, which I was a part of, and while in conjunction with that old organization, I started to recruit some of my peers," Davis said. "Slowly, we decided we probably should go out on our own with our own name."

Davis said the community has been supportive of the group, whose members are all younger than 40.

"We have worked with a pretty exclusive group so far -- not on purpose, but it's just what we have," Davis said.

"The end goal is to be able to give scholarships to art students and promote fine arts in the community and as a community-building tool," Davis said.

Davis said Charleston's annual Dogwood-Azalea Festival draws thousands to the town in the spring, and the Society wanted to create a reason for others to visit in the fall.

In economically slow times "the fine arts have a tendency to blossom because people don't have money to do things," Davis said. Having community events like the Art Harvest is "good for morale when things aren't going exactly nice."

Organist John T. Webb, a Charleston native, will present a concert at 7:15 p.m. Saturday in the sanctuary of the United Methodist Church in Charleston. A string ensemble from Southeast Missouri State University will join Webb for a portion of the concert.

The concert will be performed in honor of the late Sister Helen Rolwing, who Webb knew from his years in the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Webb attended Berea College in central Kentucky, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration, and a bachelor of arts degree in music. He did further studies with professor Stephen Klinda of the Mozarteum.

Webb is the organist for Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church in Fishers, Ind., and sings in the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir and Chamber Choir.

At 7 p.m. Sunday the Charleston Society for the Arts Community Chorus will present a concert featuring Goodin Memorial Handbells performing original composition of resident musician Jerry D. McDowell.

"This chorus we put together has been neat because there are people of all ages and lots of retired musicians who have come out of their retirement to perform," Davis said.