Recently, my wife, fine artist Irina Kovnacka Ashcraft, was invited to participate in the monthly Art and Music in the Park event in Casselberry; last night I took our two girls to see her display and check out the whole event. It was fun, lots of quality art to take in, a great rock band in Phil Bonanno & the Gist and a host of top-notch food trucks. The weather was stellar too, which certainly helped, a cool breeze but warm enough for shorts if you were so inclined, low humidity and not a mosquito to be found!
Walking in I was greeted by the smells of a dozen different cuisines being cooked to order by the fleet of food trucks on hand. Many of the local favorites were there and if you’re not disciplined you could blow a month’s worth of food budget before seeing your first piece of art. So much tastiness.
As I made my way into the park I saw a large group of tents well spaced around the park. There were oil paintings, photography, jewelry, woodwork and more. I discovered the work of Julie McDaniel at this event, much of her work is fishing related which always appeals to me. The woodwork of Tony Barges was another highlight and of course I enjoyed seeing so many people appreciating Irina’s work, her encaustic pieces always draw interest and questions about the ancient technique used to create them. There were many other artists there as well, I just did not get the chance to talk to everyone.
The music was also great, the band played classic and alternative rock covers and did a good job of it. While all the songs were recognizable and played mostly true to form, they grooved up some Pink Floyd and punched up their Tom Petty covers. By 7:30 they had drawn a good crowd around the stage area and several people were on their feet and dancing. More than a few people had blankets setup and many were enjoying a glass of wine or a cold beer
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The girls also burned off some energy on the playground, along with dozens of other children and whole family had a good time, I will definitely be going back, especially when the weather is nice.
