CCAH keeping busy

The Gazebo in Sopris Park in Carbondale has recently gotten a new “look” for this summer. In case anyone misses last year’s fun mural done by the Dandelion Day Crew with the butterfly, clouds, dandelions, and bee – and wonders where they disappeared to – here is the explanation.

The cheery mural suffered from a lot of paint ball globs and other splatterings, damaging the paint. It didn’t show from far away, but up close it looked tired and battered and in need of serious help.

Unfortunately the original mural had not been primed and, sad to say, it was beyond repair in several places, and since paint ball is greasy and hard to clean off, it complicated the entire process.

So … community volunteers of CCAH came to the rescue. The Carbondale Council on Arts and Humanities paid for the paint and supplies; Dru Handy, of Handy Custom Painting, cleaned and painted the entire surface for Lazure artists Melinda Schultz of the Waldorf School, and Geoff Legg of Carbondale Painting Company.

Along with two other volunteers – Paula Lawley and Steve Horn – they all worked their magic and created a bright and colorful abstract Lazure background to grace the stage for the remainder of this summer’s Performances in the Park and for the Carbondale Mountain Fair.

This is just one example of what can be achieved by volunteers working for the entire community’s benefit. CCAH hopes to see you at Sopris Park this Friday evening at 6:45 p.m., for the free musical entertainment – where you can check out the new mural, sign up to volunteer at the Mountain Fair, offer your suggestions to the CCAH board, and hear some great sounds by Ray Bonneville and his “roots gumbo” award-winning music.

Be sure to bring the kids and a picnic dinner, since there won’t be free hot dogs, chips and soda like at last weeks’ concert, when Drew Saxson and his company – Sakson Mortgage Group of Carbondale – fed all comers in a generous gesture of goodwill to Carbondale concertgoers.

By the way, Drew is the new CCAH board president and, along with all the board of directors, wants to hear your comments and suggestions on how your Arts Council can better serve your community. The board will be soliciting input from the community over the summer to hear your thoughts.

Many thanks to the Dandelion Day Crew for the first mural, and many thanks to the Lazure Muralists for the new one.

Let’s keep the good times rolling. See you at the Park … see you at the Fair.

Thomas Lawley

CCAH