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Arts Festival Draws 7,000 To Apollo Beach

Photo by LOIS KINDLE

Ron H. Moore of Ruskin chats with California ceramic artist Michelle Chang at the 17th Annual Apollo Beach Manatee festival of the Arts.

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By LOIS KINDLE

lkindle@tampatrib.com

Published: March 25, 2009

Updated: 03/25/2009 01:56 pm

APOLLO BEACH - Optimal weather and the promise of arts, food, music and more drew an estimated 7,000 visitors to the 17th annual Apollo Beach Manatee Arts Festival.

"Given the present economy, I was delighted at the turnout," said Joanne Gadek, executive director of the event's sponsor, the Apollo Beach Chamber of Commerce. She acknowledged attendance was slightly down from 2008 but praised the event held March 14 and 15 as another community success story.

"I was also delighted by the weather, the quality of the art and how smoothly everything went," she said.

Ron and Bridgette Clark of Riverview agreed.

"This is our third year here," Ron Clark said. "We feel it's a little, undiscovered treasure in the area."

"The food's great, and the beer's cold," his wife added. "We had a lot of fun."

Vendor Julie Stevens of Brimstone Originals sold her products for the first time this year.

"We're doing very well," she said as she sold a customer two jars of pepper jelly. "We'll definitely be back next year."

The stars of the festival were, as always, the juried art and culinary competitions.

Best of Show and $1,500 went to Wendy Hill of Johnson Creek, Wis., for her original, water-colored block prints, and watercolorist Randy Hodges of Spring City, Tenn., captured the Dean Tea Memorial Award and $200.

Bill Darrah of Sarasota won the Award of Distinction and $525 for his mixed media; Robert Mier of Sanford received the Manatee Art Award and $250 for his depiction of manatees in acrylics; and William Underwood of Pinellas Park won the TECO Energy Award of Excellence and $750 for his photography.

Sixteen other artists received Awards of Merit or Awards of Distinction and $125 each, and the People's Choice Award went to Nick Garrett of Brandon.

East Bay High School's culinary team won first place in the festival's popular cooking competition, in which student chefs-in-training were asked to prepare a three-course meal in an hour.

The team from Riverview High School took second place, followed by a foursome from Sickles High School. Each team received a cash award for its school. East Bay got $500, Riverview $300 and Sickles $200.

The arts festival is an annual fundraiser that helps cover the chamber's operating expenses. Some of the proceeds also go to a different nonprofit organization each year that is dedicated to the preservation of manatees and to public education about their threatened species status.

The Tampa Tribune was among the sponsors of the event.

Reporter Lois Kindle can be reached at (813) 865-1553.

To see additional photos of the festival, go to southshore.tbo.com and enter the keywords Manatee Arts.

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