‘There\u2019s been a steady stream of people in the doors … and (the street) looked good,’ said co-organizer of popular downtown event<\/p>\n
While it wasn\u2019t quite a starry night weather-wise, the rain did hold off for the first hour and then some of Saturday night’s\u00a0Starry Night Studio and Gallery Tour in downtown Orillia.<\/p>\n
After some preliminary light rain between 8 and 9 p.m., the predicted deluge settled in in earnest, and the Peter Street Arts District began to empty out.<\/p>\n
Prior to the rain, the street looked beautiful, with colourful bunting, lighting, and a starry-night themed welcome wall and banner, courtesy of Streets Alive\u2019s Leslie Fournier and local artist Paul Baxter.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaul put together this beautiful banner and brick wall, lighting … his work in design and his artistic eye is such a gift when it comes time to decorate the street for this event each year,\u201d said Fournier.<\/p>\n
Music outside was provided by local musician Dave Shaw, playing popular covers from the ’90s and more, while Woodsie, also a local musician, played keyboard inside The Maker\u2019s Circle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love playing this event,\u201d said Shaw. \u201cIt\u2019s such a beautiful vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organizers were grateful for that vibe early on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy we got the first hour and more in without rain,\u201d said longtime Starry Night co-organizer Lucia McGarvey, owner of The Shadowbox. \u201cThere\u2019s been a steady stream of people in the doors, and I did get out and around the street and it looked good!\u201d<\/p>\n
Newbie Starry Night co-organizer Melissa Van Dam, whose studio is in The Maker\u2019s Circle on Peter Street South, agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t fun having to make the call to set up outside, but so far so good,\u201d she said, earlier in the evening. \u201cWe were excited to add some new things to the mix for Starry Night, like the art battle, and the art trivia contest, and keep the focus on the art. It just brings more people in and makes it even more exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peter Street Fine Arts artist, painter Brian Tosh, had a customer find him before the event even began.<\/p>\n
\u201cA woman came in earlier and wanted my painting, it\u2019s a take on the famous Canada-Russian game, but played as pond hockey,\u201d he smiled. \u201cShe came in and got it already!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Orillia Area CDC, DWN Craft Chocolatier, owned by new event co-organizer Dawn Nita, and Sanderson Monuments were open as well and transformed into art studios in their own right. The CDC had several artists exhibiting inside, because of the predicted rain, as well as works by Carol Deimling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love participating in Starry Night,\u201d said Orillia CDC General Manager Jim Fitzgerald. \u201cIt was my first time last year, and it felt so good to be part of the arts community here.<\/p>\n
“Mostly, we deal with local businesses and non-profits, so it\u2019s wonderful to contribute to the arts and culture of the community. This has a bigger feel to it: with business services, the arts, and the community at large, it\u2019s the perfect storm,\u201d said Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n
The Orillia Museum of Art and History was closed during Starry Night last year, but this year, it was open in a big way. Two floors of the museum hosted a Vintage Market, while the third-floor art studio was home to an Art Battle.<\/p>\n
Vanessa Santala, Development Officer at the museum, was thrilled with the turnout during the evening, and the response to the Vintage Market.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the Vintage Market here, we are getting new people through the door, and they are looking at the art as well, and are able to see what we are all about. That makes me happy,” said Santala.<\/p>\n
Leslie Town of Vintage Love Story, a vendor in the Vintage Market, was enjoying a steady stream of customers to her large booth located in the main floor gallery at OMAH.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sold a whole set of Wedgewood dinner plates,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is so nice to be inside, and being able to set up the day before the market was awesome.\u00a0I am really enjoying this,” she said.<\/p>\n
The crowds may have been a little smaller, the weather a little damp, but the spirit of the Starry Night Studio and Gallery Tour shone as brightly as ever, in its 22nd\u00a0iteration.<\/p>\n
New blood in the organizing committee, steady longtime helpers and supporters, and the talent of so many local artists combined with community to make another stellar evening of art in the Peter Street Arts District.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘There\u2019s been a steady stream of people in the doors … and (the street) looked good,’ said co-organizer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134,435112],"class_list":["post-866123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-orillia-museum-of-art-and-historydowntown-orilliapeter-street-arts-districtleslie-fournierstarry-night-orillia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}