GREENVILLE – Those who love the arts won’t want to miss Main Street Greenville’s First Friday event for August, the Artisan Stroll.
The event will feature multiple vendors, each offering art, crafts or handmade items.
The event will be held from 6-9 p.m. Aug 3 in downtown Greenville.
“It will be a jam-packed night with so much to see and do,” Event Chair Volunteer Susan Fowble said. “We are excited to see everyone downtown.”
Vendors will be set-up on the sidewalks in front of downtown businesses to showcase their items. The list of items offered include paintings, ceramics, jewelry, drawings, re-purposed home decor, photography, pottery and much more.
In addition to the art and crafts on display, many activities and demonstrations will take place throughout the evening. The agenda includes dance performances by Final Bow Center for Children’s Performing Arts and 5678 Dance Studio, martial arts demonstrations by Young Forest Martial Arts, a display of cartoons by local artist Paul Ackley and a “Bad Art” contest hosted by several downtown businesses. The event also will include live music at multiple locations.
Multiple downtown businesses will be participating in the first ever “Bad Art” contest. The owners and employees are hard at work creating the most over the top, outrageous, garish and funny works of art they can come up with. Each participating business will display its piece in the store on the night of the Artisan Stroll and event attendees are encouraged to stop by each location to view the works of “art” and then vote for which piece is the best of the worst. A full list of participating businesses and voting cards will be supplied the night of the event.
The evening also features many activities for children to enjoy, with face-painting, Chalk-the-Block (a sidewalk chalk contest), free hot dogs and hamburgers provided by Greenville National Bank, free ice cream provided by First Congregational Church and First Presbyterian Church, and more.
Beginning in March, the committee (consisting of Susan Fowble, Patti Jetter, Kim Murray, Mary Saintignon, Nancy Person and Debbie Niekamp) have volunteered their time to work with Main Street Greenville to create the event.
“The Artisan Stroll is our largest First Friday event of the year, and it would not be possible without the hard work of the committee. They begin planning this event well in advance to make sure there will be a wide variety of vendors and activities for all to enjoy,” Executive Director of Main Street Greenville Crysta Hutchinson said.
Flyers will be handed out the night of the event with the schedule and the locations of each vendor. Main Street Greenville also will post the information on its website and Facebook page for community members to download or view before the event.
Main Street Greenville also announced the incorporation of a new art contest to the Artisan Stroll. This juried contest is open to all accepted participants of the Artisan Stroll, although participation in the contest is not a requirement to display a work at the Artisan Stroll.
The theme of the contest is “Shades of Summer.” Artists are encouraged to submit pieces which celebrate the variety of hues, intense saturations and unique light quality that the summer season brings. Pieces of all mediums will be accepted for participation in the contest, and artists will have a chance to win cash prizes of up to $200. The art contest has been generously sponsored by The Greenville Rotary Club.
The mission of Rotary International is to provide service to others, promote integrity and advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through its fellowship of business, professional and community leaders. The Greenville Ohio Rotary Club meets every Tuesday afternoon for lunch from noon-1 p.m. in the Community Center at BRC’s Chestnut Village.
Main Street Greenville is a non-profit organization committed to stimulating and supporting revitalization efforts, historic preservation and economic growth in Historic Downtown Greenville. To learn more about the organization, visit www.mainstreetgreenville.org or call 937-548-4998. Individuals can also like the organization on Facebook to receive updates on a regular basis (www.facebook.com/mainstreetgreenville).
