Art party
Festival ends with a mad dash for "stolen" art at colorful garden party
With Mother Nature smiling upon Memorial Park — mostly clear skies, lovely temperate weather plus an ever so gentle breeze — Sunday was lively for the 43rd Annual Bayou City Art Festival. Word from the artists is that attendance peaked on this last day of the juried fair.
Headliner blues chanteuse Marcia Ball surely was a big draw. And so was the Art Heist, the yearly garden party that has patrons on a mad dash to steal art from a collection of 112 pieces donated by festival participants. Chaired by Art Colony Association board members Claire Bond and John De la Cruz, the fundraiser was themed after the 2014 Pantone Color of the Year, Radiant Orchid.
With only 15 seconds on the clock, attendees' only misdeed was taking too long to choose their loot and get out of the way for the next swindler.
After Mayor's Office director of boards and commissions Jenn Char read a proclamation that declared March 30, 2014, Bayou City Art Festival Day, around 220 guests anxiously waited for their numbered ping pong ball to be pulled from a bingo cage by emcee Lily Jang of KHOU Channel 11. With only 15 seconds on the clock, attendees' only misdeed was taking too long to choose their loot and get out of the way for the next swindler.
Goodies from Jackson and Co. and bevs from Deep Eddy Vodka added to the colorful fun, and so did the gorgeous orchids all guests received as a memento of the happy occasion.
Spotted among the crowd were Phoebe Tudor, Kevin Bryant, Nicola Parente and Aaron Courtland, Miya Shay and Gene Wu with their little darling Winston, Jeff Hoffman, Gerardo Guerrero, Deborah Elias, Dr. Roland Maldonado, Edward Sanchez, Michelle and Barry White, Paul Pettie, Jeff Gremillion, Terri Dirrado, Sandy Zilker, Patrick Palmer, Michael Piana, Mary Paulette, Bart Truxillo, Shanna Jones and Felice Sloan.