Library Successfully Wraps Up Creekside Festival

The final day of the Creekside Arts Festival ended in success as a steady stream of locals unaffected by the rainy weather poured into the Clayton Community Library on Sunday.

The atmosphere from carried into Sunday's poetry and music events, lending a cozy and positive feeling of involvement.

"The rain worked for us. It brought people in," said Arlene Nielsen, event director for the festival.

On Saturday, attendees enjoyed the sunny weather and clear skies, which worked well with the schedule of artsy, environmentally themed and hands on activities. But Sunday’s stormy weather did not affect the closing celebrations, outdoor booths were brought in and the rain pushed locals looking for activities under a roof to attend.

The closing day of the festival continued to display the works of local artists and craftspeople. Displays of collections of paintings, photography and jewelry were placed around Clayton Library’s Community room.

In the mix was Doug Thomas of Flat Cat Instruments who hand constructs guitars from solid wood.  His booth displayed the different types of guitars he’s built, the RC prototype, an R12 cedar top and a D Sitka top, he said. He happily spoke to attendees who were curious about his work.

The third and final day of the festival was also not shy of scheduled activities. Sunday’s began with a well-known speaker, Tazuo Yamaguchi, a national Haiku poetry winner and filmmaker.

Another highlight was of the Diablo Taiko, Japanese drumming, performance. Families gathered around to watch Diablo Taiko drum in unison, during which the drummers verbal shouting and percussion beating echoed throughout the library.

Creekside Arts Festival is in its 8th year and coincided with the 16th anniversary of the Clayton Community Library. Though there are no plans yet for next year’s festival, Nielsen said, "We always try to have something new. We will probably bring in one new element."

Either way, the event successfully brought locals out and raised public awareness to the art community and environment. With each year the amount of applications for the festival grow. Nielsen commented, "This year we had to put some artists on waiting lists.”