Stormy weather doesn't stop 42nd annual Art in the Park

Ormond Beach Observer
Neighbors

Despite a day of slight rain, Ormond Beach residents gathered for the annual city-wide craft fair.

Rain or shine, Ormond Beach is getting artsy.

The 42nd annual Art in the Park brought in hundreds of art and crafts enthusiasts to Rockefeller Gardens May 3-4 to see the wide range of local artistic talent.

Though the weather wasn’t ideal Saturday, that didn’t stop Suzanne Altamare from working on her sand sculpture of The Casements. Altamare said she has been making a living off of her art for 31 years.

“What haven’t I made,” Altamare said. “Everything from a 200 foot dragon to teeny weenie little scupltures.”

Hal Somervill, a two year veteran of Art in the Park, had many visitors in and out of his tent filled with cigar box guitars. Somervill has used everything from hockey sticks to bed pans to create a working guitar.

“It’s all repurposed things,” Somervill said, “that’s the trick of it. I come down here from Michigan for the winter so we’re about to head back. This is the last show we do.”

Orville Strang has been weaving hammock chairs and creating bottle incense burners for just a year now. Though he just starting crafting part-time, he’s fully enjoyed coming to events like Art in the Park.

“I just saw it somewhere and thought that it would be fun to do,” Strang said. “This event has activities for the whole family, that’s what makes it good.”