Festivals
Youth Arts Festival
Annually in September
September 21, 2013
9 am - 3 pm
Our annual Youth Arts Festival is the GEP's largest celebration of art, music, green energy & community fun!
Each year we host dozens of organizations and regional artists who come to share their knowledge and the love of the arts. Last year we had over 1000 visitors!
You and your family can enjoy:
• Painting
• Drawing
• Throwing Pots
• Clay Hand-building
• Weaving
• Chalk Art
• Face Painting
• Printmaking
• Recycled Craft-making
• Demos of Blowing Glass
• Demos of Hammering Steel
• Building a Trash Dragon
• Live Entertainment, and more!
This event is FREE and open to the public. No pets please.
Many local and regional artists will give demonstrations in pottery making, weaving, painting, printmaking and many other art/craft mediums. Special demonstrations by four (4) professional glass artists and fine metal-working by two (2) professional blacksmiths will be given center stage in the park's facilities. The metal forges and the glass furnaces used by the artists use renewable landfill gas from a near-by closed landfill to power them. All the artists at the festival will enjoy helping children to create their own works of art.
One of the highlights of the one-day festival is the Green Energy Park 'Trash Dragon,' a gargantuan costume created and built by local artists totally out of trash. Timm Muth, Director of the Green Energy Park, said, "it's fun and educational when children can see something beautiful being created out of stuff that people throw away."
The Youth Arts Festival is a cooperative effort between Jackson County's Green Energy Park and Western Carolina University's School of Art and Design, and the following partners:
• Western Carolina University
• Southwestern Community College
• North Carolina Arts Council
• Jackson County Arts Council
• Cherokee Preservation Foundation
• Lowe's Home Improvement
• B & Al's Grill
· Jack the Dipper
• Pepsi
The Green Energy Park is located off Haywood Road one-half mile past the Huddle House in Dillsboro. Please carpool if you can as there is limited parking.
Delicious food and ice cream will be available for purchase on site.
