Recently I spent the better part of last week volunteering for the Utah Arts Festival. This picture to the side is the Library Square in Salt Lake City where we have been holding the Festival for the past four years, beautiful no? This year we celebrated our 30th anniversary and I celebrated my 9th year volunteering. It may seem like quite a bit of time (even makes me feel old saying that), but I spent the first half of that simply showing up for the facepainting portion of the Children's Art Yard. So I spent a good 4-5 hours a day just sitting in the shade and enjoying the bright smiles after I perfected "movebrushwithsquirmingchildsface"-fu. But last year and this year, I was one of two Lemonade stand girls. So I was there for about 12-13 hours straight each day with the Odyssey House volunteers. Which was an awesome experience in and of itself (except for the direct sunlight.. I'm now a darker shade of stark white). I am rather fond of the people I work with during the festival. You never know what to expect! One day I was working with one of the leading research scientists of the health department of the state and the next I was working with a mother of five. After my semi-parenting experience I had earlier this summer, I just have to say that I was completely astounded by her. The entire festival is just chuck full of people from every walk of life! Oh, and having the chance to watch the Taiko Drum group perform every year just rocks my socks. I must admit that it is one of the highlights of my year. There's just something about percussion that makes my day bright.

I must admit though.. Last night I had this horrible repeating-waking dream that Neo from the Matrix walked up to the counter and the entire dialogue of the conversation consisted of him asking what we had and saying "Whoah" to everything I said. Even after I insisted that he make a selection and pay, all he would say was "Whoah" and stand there in that usually awe-inspiring Ted Theodore Logan jaw-drop position that the man will never escape at any point in his acting career. Ever. I was half-expecting him to claim that he knew Kung-Fu when I threatened to call security after standing there for a half-hour holding up the line. I tell ya.. people in muggy weather will get rather fiesty if they don't get to the front of the line in at least five minutes or less.

To me, it's worth every moment I'm there to simply enjoy being out amongst others that appreciate Art like myself. Oh, and the artwork, simply stunning this year. Everything you can imagine from Surreal Multi-colored Victorian oil paintings to a 50 foot cloth dragon that we had laying in the fountain in the above picture., oh.. and who cannot forget the little demon metal sculpture seen gobbling down the last half of a lawn gnome and dragging another behind him. Not only do you have the opprotunity to see this artwork, but the artisans themselves are often nearby to answer any questions and most of them are extremely friendly and unfortunatly very thin (Utah is not renown for it's support of the Art community). John Sumner was especially friendly when I came around during my breaks. He has a fantastic sense of humor and it shows through his work. His booth has always brought a smile to my face whenever I have passed it during the years. There was another artist that did these graphite pieces that were so incredible that I honestly thought he was a photographer when I passed his booth the first few times. Steve Nowatzki has been my favorite for the past couple of years. I am poorly incapable of articulating exactly what his artwork is like, you should really take a look at his website. I'm particularly fond of his Big Cats series.

The Featured artist this year was Pat Bagley of the Salt Lake Tribune. He apparently has attended the festival for many years and for our anniversary he created a poster with several illustrations of the different types of people he has seen while there. My favorite has to be the 'Alternative' Couple you can see to the right of the logo, with their pretty-in-pink daughter. It's funny because it's so unbelievably true. Coming in close second is the hippie chick leading the rock art illustration around on the beginning of the second line. Oh, and who cannot love the couple in the middle of the third row. You know, the old fat guy with beer and the gorgeous long-legged philly. Honestly TELL me that you've never seen those people wandering around. I dare you. And what in the HECK is up with the lawn gnome?

Overall I really enjoyed my time at the festival. The long hours, direct sunlight, and the people complaining about things you cannot help can sometimes get you down.. But the myriads of artwork and sensations that surround you at every moment are more than enough to make me look forward to donating my time every year.