Fourth Friday Art Walk

On the fourth Friday of each month, the Sanford Welcome Center hosts and Art Walk. Area artists display works in the Welcome Center and visitor vote for their favorites. The other Sanford galleries are also open and also hold special events. Most of the venues have appetizers and wine as well. It's always a fun night and always a busy night. The Art Walk held last night was no exception.

 

My friend Tom Abbott entered a work in the exhibition. Though he did not win, all the participants and visitors were the winners because they got to see and enjoy some really nice art and rub shoulders with a lot of the artists. I especially enjoyed talking with Ken Balboni, a digital photographer, how had a photo that I really liked. He gave me some great photography advice, too. It was nice to meet some of the other artists as well. It's always a busy event, and they have wine (from the Sanford Wine Company, just down the street) and appetizers galore as well. They had a good turnout last night as usual. It's really a lot of fun and a great time.

 

I also spent a good amount of time hanging out at Art Affair Gallery, katty-corner across First Street from the welcome center. They were very busy last night. They recently moved down two doors to the corner shop, twice the size of their former location. If last night's traffic is any indication, it's a really happening place, for sure. I spend a lot of time there because my friend Tom helped Ronda open the first location, did some of the work on the new location, and has a number of his works on display at Art Affair Gallery. They have a lot of nice stuff and I am a big fan, definitely.

 

To add to the festivities at Art Affair Gallery, yours truly took along an appetizer. Now I will admit it's a rip-off of something I'd had at another party some time, some where, but I don't recall just when or where. I took a whole pineapple and--very carefully and with a very sharp knife--quartered it. Then again with a sharp knife, i trimmed out the core, cut it longitudinally most of the way through, then made latteral cuts about every inch or so, again, most of the way through. Finally, I again used very sharp cutting utensil and cut along the skin. Then I cut maraschino cherries in half and with a toothpick, put a cherry on each piece. The tootpick served to hold the pieces in place, and even where I may not have quite cut all the way through, the pieces were easy to remove. I had reports from Art Affair that people commented very favorably on this and loved it. It was fun to make and quite easy to do, actually. And as you can see in the picture, the presentation is spectacular!

Gallery on First was also open though I did not make it in there last night. Still, they also have some nice stuff--they have rooms they rent out to local artists, a big room where they have changing exhibits, and in the front they sell their specialty--southern folk art.

 

Down around the corner, Riverhouse Pottery also had an artists' showing/competition. They had a number of pieces of glasswork and glass-based jewellry. I did go and vote on my favorites. They also had some delicious meatballs, by the way! Yumm.

And not to be outdone, Little Fish Huge Pond also had an artist's opening last night. If you've never visited this quaint little bar, you really need to. The often have live music on the weekends and there is always an art show going on in there as well. It's really a fun, friendly, welcoming, and definitely avante garde place.  

I did walk up and down First street and it was generally quite busy. The main restaurants were also doing a great business, it seemed:

• Stone's Throw Bistro
• Two Blondes and a Shrimp
• Hollerbach's Willow Tree Cafe

They are, by the way, listed in my current personal order of preference, but don't get me wrong, they're all great places to eat and I highly recommend andy and all of them. You cannot go wrong eating at any one of them and each has its own unique charm. All have excellent food.

There! I did manage to incorporate enough about food into this post, didn't I. Downtown Sanford is a very fun place, even when there is not a special event going on. But with the special Fourth Friday Art Walk and the second Thursday Alive after Five party, it's an even more fun place. I love it. I hope you'll give it a try one of these days, too.