Art in the Park 2023
Article and photos by Tess King
Come on down and join us for the 42nd annual Elko Art in the Park event hosted by the Elko County Art Club (ECAC). This year the event will be held Saturday July 8th and Sunday July 9th 9am-4pm both days. The Elko County Art Club appreciates all its local sponsors which include Elko Sanitation, Terry’s Pumpin’ Potties, Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital, Elko Cardiology, Cavannaugh Law Offices, Work Wise LLC, Nevada Goldmines, Nevada Health Centers, and Northeastern Nevada Museum.
This year we will have over 100 vendors including: food, crafts, fine art, local businesses, metal art, jewelry, photography, watercolors, and tons more. Our food vendors will have Indian Tacos from Native Concessions, Ice cream options with Old Timey and Yummy LLC, doughnuts from Nuts Under a Buck, snow cones from Tropical Sno, Mexican favorites from Las Brisas, and savory BBQ with Back Porch BBQ.
We have over a dozen local artists and crafters this year, which is very exciting. The ECAC members booth will also be set up near the information and raffle booth. This booth will feature different types of mediums from local ECAC members. Don’t forget to come and buy raffle tickets to win donated items from all our vendors. These proceeds go toward our annual scholarship that we give away to one high school senior.
The ECAC is trying to shape this event into more of an art festival this year so there will be live music, performances, and family entertainment! We will have Southwind playing on Saturday. On Sunday, Jeremiah Jones, Liam Kyle Cahill, and Kasey Christensen will be performing for us. The Silver Stage Players have Dusty Barker doing a strong man act. We may also have a performance from the Overland Stage Theatre Company. We are also excited to announce that our member Jenna Jewett will be doing a Disney read and sing along performance.
Another cool addition this year is our artist demonstrations. We have so many artists who will demonstrate during the event we will have 4 different tents for them. There will be 11 demonstrations of various art mediums over the span of the two-day event. The Great Basin Ceramics Lab will be throwing pottery on a pottery wheel. Deb Finley and Larry Hyslop will also be creating clay demonstrations in their unique forms. Bianca Lantze, Beth Petzold, and Darcy Tate will be painting with acrylic paint. Elaine Lord will be demonstrating her digital art technique. Gary Mathers and Jenna Jewett will be doing spray paint art and selling it on sight. Robin Depalma will be painting in watercolor and acrylic paint. Last but certainly not least, Alyssa Compton will be painting a mural on wood during the event!
For the kids’ activities we will be having Event Source bring down a load of fun! They will have the train ride, bounce houses for all ages, the sticky ball arena, and carnival games. The California Trail Interpretive Center will have a kid’s craft at their booth. Cheeky Doodles will be face-painting for all the kids.
This weekend should be a great time for everyone of all ages. The Elko County Art Club uses this event to keep our gallery space, located at 407 Railroad Street Elko NV, open all year round. We couldn’t keep our space open without the generous donations from our sponsors, the volunteer work of our artists and members, and of course we would not succeed without the gracious support from our amazing community, and the hundreds of travelers who come from all over the West Coast to attend our annual event. We will look forward to seeing you at Elko Art in the Park the second weekend in July!!