Issue date: 5/4/09 Section: News

Children play with bubbles during Dave Rudolf's performance at Celebration Saturday afternoon in the Library Quad. In addition to music and dance performances, the festival had art and food booths, a herpetology display, children's art activities and more. (Alycia Rockey / The Daily Eastern News)

Eastern students, children and pets came to celebrate good times at the last big event before finals in the Library Quad this weekend.

Art vendors, bands and food vendors gathered at Celebration: A Festival of the Arts this year.

Gail Warner, a Mattoon resident, was one of the vendors at the festival.

"I started stringing beads for stress relief," she said. "I think I've been doing Celebration for about 12 years."

She said she usually breaks even with her profits, but the event is a nice social scene where she can meet people. Warner goes to other venues as well. She goes to Alaska every other year and talks to other people who make and sell jewelry.

"We do some shows in Effingham, Decatur, Charleston and Champaign as well," Warner said.

Jody Johnson, a Charleston resident, had a booth of stained glass.

Johnson is a former teacher at Charleston High School and a part-time secondary education instructor at Eastern.

"I collected it and went to a class at Lake Land in 2000," she said. "When I was buying stain glass, I took two fusing classes from places I bought the glass from and a kiln. So, I have been collecting stain glass for nine years and fusing glass for about a year and a half now."

Johnson said this is her second year at Celebration.

"I have also done the art renaissance fair at the high school several times," she said.

Melissa Watson, a Charleston resident, said she liked to come out and see everything Celebration had to offer.

She liked how everything was neat and hand-made.

Jara Moser, a junior at Mattoon high school, really enjoyed the booths with the different crafts.

"I think it is interesting that this is what they like to do so they make these different art pieces to sell," Moser said.

She liked the one who sold the duct tape purses the best.

Cat Miller, a medical advocate in the sexual assault counseling center, said someone she worked with did duct tape purses with their daughter, and that is where she got the idea.

"I made one with my little sister and when I was carrying it around Pittsburgh, everyone asked me where I got it," she said.

She was selling purses at Celebration with colorful designs as well as Beach Boys album covers.

Friday's rain was a problem for some of the festival's events.

Dan Crews, director of Celebration, said Pantherstock had to be canceled because of the weather.

Crews said the committee of Celebration would rather make a decision about the rain and be wrong about it than make a decision about the bands playing and have something go wrong.

Crews said the Sublime cover band, Wrong Way, ended up playing at Mad Hatter's Friday night instead.

"On Saturday, we were pleasantly surprised there was lots of sunshine, since the weather forecast said rain," he said. "Lots of people came out."

Crews said he really enjoyed seeing the art. He said there were 40 artists at Celebration, with everything from ceramics to jewelry.

JoAnne McGlone, from Terre Haute, Ind., came to hear her granddaughter in a bluegrass band Saturday.

Her 12-year-old granddaughter was in the band "Marie McGlone and Band," which shared the stage with another band called "New Mules."

"I liked all the bands I heard today, from the bluegrass to the African dancers," McGlone said. "The bluegrass is a big part of being down south. I also like the food at Celebration."

Celebration also featured events for children. Children could face paint, make buttons, paint a mural or paint terracotta pots.

Mandy Mullison, a senior art education major, said the theme was "Earth Day." She said the Illinois Art Education Association helped put on these activities, something they have done for the past few years.

"It is a professional organization to make contacts and get involved with the real world before we go into teaching," Mullison said.

She said the biology department brought in some reptiles and amphibians to play with Saturday, and the children really enjoyed those as well.

Ethan Blatnik, a child at the event, painted a terracotta pot black and blue with skeletons on it.

He said he wants to be an artist when he grows up.


Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or haholm@eiu.edu.

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