SOMERS POINT — One of the Somers Point Arts Commission’s marquee events and its longest continuously running activity has moved to September this year.
The eighth annual Art in the Park is set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 14 at John F. Kennedy Memorial Park on Broadway overlooking Great Egg Harbor Bay.
The day-long event features professional and amateur painters and photographers displaying and selling their work, as well as live music6, activities for children and food/beverages for sale. In addition, a children’s clothesline art exhibit, featuring the work of students from Dawes Avenue School, will be on display.
The event is free and open to the public. For those seeking to participate, Art in the Park accepts traditional two-dimensional work in oil/acrylic, watercolor, drawing/pastels, hand-pulled prints and photography. Participation fee is $40.
Donna Mohr said the event was canceled due to a rainout last June but got a reprieve when organizers of the city’s Good Old Days Festival invited the Arts Commission to join in at its end-of-summer event.
“Every time we start a new program, we want it to be successful so the next year we improve it in some way,” Mohr said, noting that many of the artists enjoyed the cooler September weather last year.
“We were glad just to have it but it was different,” Mohr said. “So this year we decided to keep it in September.”
Mohr said she and the Arts Commission were grateful to be part of the festival last year but found it was not the appropriate crowd for Art in the Park.
In addition, the event was held in a small portion of the park instead of the entire open space, limiting the number of participants to 30 from a high of about 50.
Mohr said there is a lot of competition for time in June, with high school graduations, Father’s Day, weddings “and the weather is iffier in June.”
There still is space for artists to take part in this year’s event. Email somersptarts@gmail.com or call (609) 287-0408. All applications must be received by Sept. 13. There will be $1,200 in cash prizes awarded.
Mohr said the event has given people who are not seasoned exhibitors an opportunity to learn how to do so at a low cost in a beautiful setting.
“What we have seen, in the early days people didn’t have a tent, racks, proper display equipment and now they do,” she said. “It gives people who think they’re not ready for prime time an opportunity to exhibit.”
Mohr said the event perfectly encapsulates what the Arts Commission is trying to achieve.
“We realize that we are serving the community, both artists and attendees, who want to spend an enjoyable couple of hours,” she said, noting one of the great things the artists get out of it is congeniality and camaraderie among other artists and photographers.
Contributors to Art in the Park and Somers Point Arts Commission’s 2024 programs include Atlantic County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts; the city of Somers Point; the Somers Point Business Association; and many local businesses.
Visit artintheparksomerspt.weebly.com or email somersptarts@gmail.com for more information.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
