River Arts Festival Wrapup
Posted By CATHY PELLETIER , CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
Posted 2 months ago
For the past two weeks, musicians, artists, authors, filmmakers, actors and chefs shared their artistic creations, infusing Dunnville with life and colour. And as another successful River Arts Festival came to an end Saturday night, Jody Orr and committee were already preparing for next year.
"Our next planning meeting is two weeks from now," she told the Chronicle at the closing ceremonies, "when we assess this year's event and decide what went well and what we need to improve on for next year. We generated three new ideas and hope to do a much larger marketing campaign next year," she noted.
According to Orr, last year's River Arts Festival exceeded organizers' expectations, drawing crowds of more than 1,000 people, and this year saw an overall increase as well. "Artists' attendance was up, attendance for people from out of town and locals was up, and support is up," she reported, adding that "even in those events that saw limited attendance, the quality was phenomenal and the feedback from people had a really good energy throughout the festival. Even the weather was good."
Originally designed as a way to attract tourists to town during a traditionally low-traffic time of year, Orr said the timing is also right to promote artwork as possible Christmas gifts while encouraging artists in every discipline. Visual works from artists of all ages were displayed at Flyers Café, Queen St. Paint and Décor, and the Queens Hotel throughout the two-week festival, which kicked off with an outdoor concert featuring Rob Lamothe and the Beautiful Disturbance on Nov. 7.
For the first time this year, a Culinary Arts night was added, and heralded a savoury success. The brainstorm of RAF organizer Gerry Topolniski was held at host restaurant Buen Tono, where owner John Sawyer teamed up with four fellow chefs to present five gourmet courses in an artful way. Cheryl Bishop of Flyer's Café, Deb Davies from Dunnville Golf and Country Club, Peter Van Wyck from the Gingerbread House, and John Jacysyn from the Sunflower Café collaborated to create a memorable menu and sold-out event.
"Everyone was an orchestra that created beautiful music, and (hostess and Buen Tono co-owner) Kym Sawyers was the director," said Topolniski, describing the evening.
"I heard comments from people who do a lot of travelling and they said our menu rivalled anything in Montreal, Europe and Ottawa," he said, of the meal which boasted five different appetizers, pear, pecan and stilton cheese salad, German creamed potato soup with sausage and basil, followed by a main course of pork loin stuffed with spinach, sides of Portobello mushrooms and ricotta cheese, ratatouille and orzo, topped off with Monet mango cheesecake.
"Next year, we're looking for five new restaurants and we're hoping to include Caledonia, Cayuga, Smithville and Hagersville, to help promote those areas as well."
After thoroughly enjoying this year's event, "The RAF Culinary Arts Night is already on our calendar for 2010," remarked April Cormaci.
Meanwhile, music-lovers were treated to major CBC Radio headliner DALA, as well as singer/songwriter Melissa McClelland, who delivered separate spellbinding performances within the intimate setting of Flyers Café. Most festival events were presented free of charge, with some of the concerts suggesting a $10 donation.
"People have been extremely generous," said Orr. "The donations have been great. We know that for a variety of reasons, some people can't afford it but they still want to attend. The vast majority of people gave the suggested $10 donation."
Jarrod Hogeterp of Cayuga performed with Dunnville's Nate Waldes, and another evening featured Andrei Krylov, who, in addition to his trademark classical guitar, showed his versatility by playing a variety of flamenco, jazz, and some beautifully embellished Beatles tunes.
Toronto singer/songwriter Corin Raymond and U. S. musician Jonathan Byrd stopped in at Flyers while touring across North America together. A Youth Concert at Dunnville Secondary School featured Courage My Love plus James Prasek and guests from the Youth Impact Centre. Musicians of all ages jammed during Local Music Night and the Festival's Wrap Party at the Queens Hotel featured The Relics on closing night.
Masters of the written word took centre stage at the Optimist Hall during Local Authors' Night. Brad Smith presented his new five-minute film, and Joe Maggio, Bill Casselman, Cheryl MacDonald, Lorraine Sommerfeld and Jeremy Henatyzen provided readings from their latest works, along with helpful hints and advice for aspiring writers.
Governor General Award-winning author Kenneth Oppel shared the secrets of his children's novels with Dunnville students during the day, and spoke to adults in an evening session.
Video Night featured a fun screening of films produced by former DSS grads, all of whom moved on to become successful filmmakers, including Aaron Lam, Tim Dashwood, Steve Passmore and Andy Furlong.
As an added highlight this year, David Porteous' moving documentary film, War Music, was presented at Flyers on Remembrance Day. The 22-year-old musician and filmmaker, now living in Scotland, was inspired to write songs by the people he met and the places he saw while visiting war memorials in Europe.
Another new event added to this year's roster was the Spoken Word Night, featuring Tiny Bill Cody appearing at Flyers. Emcee Dick Passmore and Terry van Nort cohosted an entertaining Impact Improv at the Youth Impact Centre, with quick-thinking young artists stepping into the spotlight to adlib on cue.
Neil Simon's Plaza Suite, presented by Dunnville Community Theatre at the Optimist Hall, rounded out the dramatic portion of the festival, showcasing a humourous, in-depth look at what goes on behind hotel doors.
A Career in the Arts Seminar and Discussion initiated some thought-provoking and insightful dialogue among two published authors, a professional musician, and aspiring local artists.
"Whether you're a musician, you work with the spoken or written word, or with visual art, without your creativity, we couldn't have this festival," said Orr at the closing ceremonies, "so thank you."
Joining her on this year's committee were Frances Porter, Gerry Topolniski, Carolyn and Bill van Nort, Rob Lamothe, and Mark Schmidt.
"It's truly a team effort," said Orr. "Everyone takes a piece of it and runs with it and there's a real creative energy in the group. You start with some crazy ideas, such as our outdoor concert in November, but we had this wonderful new street to celebrate and we got lots of raised eyebrows at first. People thought we were nuts, but it worked out really well. Fran Porter took charge of all our music this year," added Orr. "We were able to get a grant and she did a phenomenal job. She exudes warmth and love."
"Gerry Topolniski retired this year and thought he was going to have a nice relaxing year, but he didn't." In addition to photographing all the events, he organized the Culinary Arts night and the video night, noted Orr.
"Carolyn van Nort took care of both our literary events, and 350 to 400 students saw Kenneth Oppel. Having an author of that stature was a real queue for us."
"I really want to thank Rob Lamothe," r. Despite his busy schedule at the Youth Impact Centre and musical commitments, "he still was responsible for all the sound at the festival," she said. "In Fran and Rob, we have real gifts in this community. Cheryl (Bishop) made Flyers the home for the festival with a generosity of spirit that is remarkable, and without her and her partners, we couldn't do it."
A few new members have been recruited to the planning committee, said Orr, adding that anyone interested in attending the upcoming meeting is welcome to contact her at 905-772-1984, or Porter at Flyers Café (905-701-8527).
"Mark Schmidt was the organizer of the festival and sent the work of 10 young artists from England where he's working and he wanted to stress that young people become involved. It was through him we got a sponsorship from the Dunnville Optimists for our Youth Art Contest, and this year we had 74 entrants in our youth Literary Contest."
As an avid collector and lover of art, Ken Mustard announced the winners of the Youth Art Contest, and presented them with prizes on behalf of the Dunnville Optimists Club. He and Gina McIntee had a tough time selecting the best entries, he said. "The time to nourish anyone in the arts is in youth, and that's why I'm keen on having this exposure for children. We can all play a part in stimulating our youth of today."
Grade 3 student Lacie Donato's acrylic sunflower painting and Rose Lamothe's goat in acrylic tied for third place. Lamothe, a multi-talented Grade 8 artist, made the frame as well. Second place went to Grade 9 student Andrew LaHaise for his angelic guitarist, called 'Slash.'
Lane Oelrich, a Grade 12 student at DSS, took first place honours for his sketch of departed teacher Jim Dickhout. "This can just about bring me to tears," said Mustard, "because he was a very fine person and I want to congratulate Lane on how he handled it."
"Mr. Dickhout was on the Suicide Intervention Team with me," explained Oelrich, "and a couple years ago, he was the soccer coach and he coached me. He was a great guy and always smiling, and I've had a few comments by people saying they really liked it and it was a generous thought."
