Families enjoy day of art, fun at Arts Council gathering
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on September 21, 2009 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/BOBBY WILLIAMS
T.J. Jackson plays with his hula hoop during the Sunday in the Garden event sponsored by the Arts Council of Wayne County. Scores of people turned out to enjoy games, the weather and the day.
Crouched along the bank of a small pond down the hill from the Arts Council of Wayne County headquarters, Susannah Faulk is waiting -- her open hand resting in the water.
"You just have to put your right hand in ... and when they swim into it, you grab 'em like that," the 4-year-old said, quickly tucking her fingers toward her palm each time an unsuspecting tadpole came along.
By the end of the afternoon, that blonde-haired little girl had secured several of them.
But each time she released her grip to behold the latest catch, the frog-to-be made a jump for it.
Susannah was one of more than 100 Wayne County residents who showed up for the Arts Council's Sunday in the Garden, an event designed to entertain families while promoting local arts programing.
Alicia Brown was there with her family, too.
And like Susannah, she, too, spent much of her time by the pond.
But this particular 6-year-old wasn't fixated on the things living in the water as she stared across it, her mouth stained blue with a shaved ice her mother, Mary, bought her from one of the vendors on hand.
She was busy watching an inflatable swan make its way from bank to bank.
"Whoa," Alicia said. "I want to swim with that."
Dozens of other children found something at the event to keep them busy, too.
Dustin Riley, a self-proclaimed "pro" with a hula hoop, spent an hour or more perfecting his form.
"See," the 11-year-old said, several minutes after he began twirling a relatively large hoop around his arms and waist. "I could do this all day."
But Annie Houston, the little girl standing a few feet away, was not having quite as much luck.
"This is too hard," the 7-year-old said to her father, Charles. "I can't do it like that."
"It takes practice," he replied. "Keep trying."
Devon Williams was in no mood for games, but the 9-year-old was determined to have a little fun.
So he waited in line for a local clown to make him a balloon animal before following around some of his favorite "Beauty and the Beast" characters, who showed up with the cast of "Grease" to promote Stagestruck.
"Wait a minute. Where did that teapot go?" Devon said to his brother, Joshua. "Let's go find him."