ArtsCape brings new and returning attractions to Capaha Park

Community members, artists and vendors filled Capaha Park on Saturday at the 10th annual ArtsCape arts festival. ArtsCape is presented by the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri.

This year's event featured 40 vendors selling handmade jewelry, soap, paintings, woodwork, quilts and more.

One of ArtsCape's most anticipated events was the Street Painting Festival.

"Street painting is where you work with soft pastels on street asphalt or on sidewalk pavement. It's a fugitive medium -- it's not made to last. Most of it fades out within two or three rains. Most of the time, within a month it is gone," said Street Painting Festival coordinator Craig Thomas.

He said the medium started in Renaissance Italy and has been a part of the Cape Girardeau art community for 12 years.

Thomas said street painting and festivals like ArtsCape do a great job of bringing art to the public.

"It's a great thing for the community. It's a great way to bring artists together. Artists are usually isolated to themselves, so [here] they get to commune and talk to each other a little bit. The strongest thing about street painting is it brings art to the public," he said. Many people have never been to an art gallery or museum, he said, and festivals bring art to people in an environment in which they are comfortable.

The winner of the street painting's teen category, 13-year-old Meg Fridley of Jackson, started work on her street painting at 11 a.m. Saturday. As the time for judging came at 3:30 p.m., she was putting the finishing touches on her vibrantly colored design, featuring a blue-skinned woman.

Meg used water to spray down the pastels as she worked. She said it helped the colors blend better and kept the dust from blowing away.

There were 32 entries in this year's Street Painting Festival, and prizes were awarded in adult, teen and children's categories. Charles Burton of Poplar Bluff, Mo., won the people's choice award. Winners received prizes including scholarships to local art camps and art supplies.

Tammy Maddock, interim executive director of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, said there were several new additions to this year's ArtsCape.

"We have live acoustical music, juggling, hula hooping, yoga and massage. We have excellent food vendors," she said.

Maddock said the event allowed people to enjoy family and friends without a huge price tag.

"Basically people are just coming out with their families and hanging out at the park. We've also got the children's pavilion that has free activities for the kids to do. In these economic times, these events are important because people want to do things with their families and they can't afford to go away on big vacations as much. This gives them a venue to go out with the kids, interact and to experience new things and new people on a budget," Maddock said.

The day featured local musicians performing acoustic music. The culmination of the performances was a community drum circle lead by Wes Weber of Jackson. This event allowed anyone who wanted to join the musicians and perform. Weber said he had no idea what to expect with the drum circle but was excited about the opportunity to perform with a variety of local musicians.

Maddock said as many as 2,000 people attended the festival. Last year's festival drew an estimated 4,000 people.

Festivalgoer Audrey Greer of Chaffee, Mo., said she did not know there was a festival taking place at the park, but was glad she and her 12-year-old nephew, Alden, stumbled upon it.

"We actually came to feed the ducks, and then we saw this. It is really nice. There are some really good things," she said.