If you love the arts you won’t want to miss Main Street Greenville’s First Friday event for August, The Artisan Stroll! The event will feature multiple different vendors, each offering art, crafts, or handmade items!
The event will be held from 6:00 - 9:00 pm in downtown Greenville on Friday, August 3rd. “It will be a jam packed night, with so much to see and do,” said Susan Fowble, Event Chair Volunteer. “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 will also include live music at multiple locations.
Main Street Greenville is very grateful to The Early Bird & Bluebag Media for loaning a selection of their previously published cartoons created by artist Paul Ackley. The original cartoons will be on display at a new downtown business, Paint Me Happy, located at 411 S. Broadway throughout the evening for event attendees to view.
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 their 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 hotdogs & 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,” said Crysta Hutchinson, Executive Director of Main Street Greenville.
Flyers will be handed out the night of the event with the schedule and the locations of each vendor. Main Street Greenville will also post the information on their website and Facebook page for you to download or view before the event.
Main Street Greenville is also pleased to announce the incorporation of a brand 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 your 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 12:00- 1:00 PM 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. You can also like the organization on Facebook to receive updates on a regular basis (www.facebook.com/mainstreetgreenville).