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| Kathi D. Dougherty glass |
There’s always so much great stuff happening at New West Fest, and this year was no exception. Food, vendors, some of the year’s best people-watching, and music, music, music. Once again, the weekend was filled with amazing performances by talented musicians. I loved having another opportunity to hear two of my favorite bluesy ladies—Susan Tedeschi and Hazel Miller—perform. And how great was it that local station KRFC broadcast live from the Mountain Avenue Stage?
If you attended, I hope you ventured over to
Beet Street’s Creative Garden. Located a bit off the beaten path in the parking lot south of the former Elks Club, the garden showcased a select group of Colorado talent. With the performing arts stage on one end and the singer-songwriter stage on the other, and a juried art show in between, it was a really nice place to step aside from some of the festival antics.
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| Diane Findley acrylics |
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| Dave Ellis bowl I bought for my birthday |
Saturday evening, we caught the last bit of a rollicking performance by
Big Jim Adam and John Stilwagen and then stayed for local fave
Jeff Finlin. In between, we enjoyed browsing the artist booths, including
Kathi D. Dougherty’s fused glass,
Diane Findley’s bright acrylics, and
Dave Ellis’s pottery. The Gardens had a craft area for kids, and the local potter’s guild had ongoing demonstrations. And, as no summer celebration of creativity is complete without chalk art, there was a place for that, too. On a larger scale, these two pieces—
Flowers in Wonderland by
Lisa J. Cameron and
water to the garden by
Tim Upham—added the “whoa, cool” factor.
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| Flowers in Wonderland |
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| water to the garden |
I hope more creative gardens will crop up around town—hint, hint—but we’ll just have to wait and see.
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| Jeff Finlin rockin' out |
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