OLD FLORIDA
CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS
2016 FESTIVAL…
WHAT A SUCCESS!
April 10, 2016
From fine art, to children’s facepainting, to great food, to Smokey the Bear, to significant non-profit groups, the Old Florida Celebration of the Arts had it all. While the OFCA was managed under Amy Gernhardt’s leadership, the Lions Club orchestrated the affairs in City Park under President Eileen Bowers’ leadership. What a consummately fine pair to create success.
ARTS
Along Second Street, well over a hundred artists displayed their wares: fiber, jewelry, painting, ceramics, wood works, and more. Ten artists went beyond displaying to demonstrating their talents throughout the two days: Shoshana and DG Stern demonstrated their fiber work; Dana Thomas, Debbie Stillman, and Debbie Lowe demonstrated their jewelry making; Donna Leeward, Guy LeFebvre, Leland Williams, and Sandi Jackson painted; Donald Pellerin demonstrated ceramics. Jerry Smith, Chief Curator of the Museum of Fine Art in Saint Petersburg judge.
The OFCA art awards ceremony took place in the Cedar Key Arts Center Garden in perfect 74ish degree, cloudless weather. Expectant artists feasted on sumptuous, plentiful hors d oeuvres, wine, beer, and Perrier, before the ceremony.
OFCA Chair Amy Gernhardt opened the awards ceremony by first thanking the celebration’s many sponsors and Jane and Robert Palmer for hosting a volunteer appreciation event shortly before the festival. She awarded 2016 Design Contest Winner to Diana Tonnessen for her Vintage Cedar Key work. Gernhardt then immediately went on to announce the award winners and the Best of Show to Leland Williams.
Click here to see a complete list of awardees:
CITY PARK
City Park hosted a huge variety of non-profit groups, each with a message and many with a lesson or learning of some kind: the Cedar Key Garden Club, UF Levy County Extension Office and its Master Gardener Program, Florida Division of Forestry, Florida’s Nature Coast Conservancy, Friends of the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges, Williston Lions Club, Seahorse Key Marine Lab, Levy County Historical Society, the new Cedar Keys Audubon, and more.
The UF’s Nature Coast Biological Station, newly arrived in Cedar Key, thrilled visitors with an alligator snapping turtle, a terrapin, and more creatures. The Seahorse Key Marine Lab thrilled Cedar Key School students Levi Brinkman and Trey Stanfield with a lightning whelk, its egg casing, a tulip whelk, its egg casing, and a horseshoe crab.
Eating took center stage for many visitors to the Cedar Key. Clams, corn, funnel cakes, crab cakes, and every kind of dessert and drink imaginable were enjoyed.
SUSTAINABILITY
This Fifty-Second Old Florida Celebration of the Arts is Cedar Key’s third sustainable festival. The Sustainable Station, pictured here, is manned by gracious visitor Andy Hite and Cedar Key School
student Noah Webster. These two made certain that all material that could be reused or recycled did not go to the landfill. Noah, next to Eileen Bowers, is Cedar Key’s residentrecycle expert; he has manned the Sustainability Station for five years.
SPONSORS
Some one hundred fourteen sponsors supported the Festival. Bronson, Saint Augustine, Chiefland, and local businesses combined to make the event a success. The Title Sponsor was Palms Medical Group. Prize Award Sponsors included: the Cedar Key Arts Center, the Island Hotel, Nature Coast Realty, and Old Fenimore Mill. Grant Sponsors included: Lions, Waste Pro, TV 20, WEDU, and Levy County Visitors Bureau. Supporting Sponsors include Capital City Bank, Tobacco Free Partnership of Levy County, Cedar Keyhole Artist Co-op, and Island Arts Gallery. Gifts- in-Kind Sponsors included the Cedar Key Beacon, Cedar Key Canvas, Sunset Isle RV Park, and Cedar Key Market. Drummond Community Bank provided the liquid refreshments.
The 2017
OLD FLORIDA CELEBRATION
OF THE ARTS
IS SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 8 AND 9, 2017.
Mark your calendar!
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