Charles City celebrates 50th Art-A-Fest

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Saturday was a day for the arts in Charles City as Central Park was filled with paintings, crafts and creations to celebrate the 50th annual Art-A-Fest on Aug. 19.

“It seems to be going pretty well,” said Ashley Koebrick Schmidt, who spearheaded the organization of this year’s event with the Charles City Arts Council.

Celebrating 50 years of Art-A-Fest, the arts council aimed for 50 booths in and around the park for people to enjoy. They hit their target with 49 artists, six food trucks, three non-profit organizations, and two service vendors.

“It’s a record year,” said Koebrick Schmidt. “I don’t think we’ve had this many vendors before.”

From woodworking and ceramic pots to oil painting and water colors, a huge variety of jewelry and décor made from all sorts of materials were on display from artists coming from near and far.

“We have people from Des Moines to Minneapolis joining us,” said Koebrick Schmidt.

The artists weren’t just there to sell their wares either. They also put their best work forward to vie for spots in a judging contest.

This year’s judge was Laura Gleissner, gallery director at the University of Northern Iowa Gallery of Art. Gleissner examined the works of the various artists and selected her picks for the contest.

Winning first place was Andreas Soemadi, a physics instructor at NIACC whose preferred medium is colored ink on paper.

Mike Hassig came in second place, with Madalyn Forrie taking third. Honorable mentions went to Ann Bishop McGregor, Steven Schiller, Ruben Ruiz and Bruce Litterer.

Finally, Audrey Mae Schlei was the winner of the special Jean Semelhack Award, named in honor of the long-time “Queen of Art-A-Fest” who attended many festivals dressed up in royal garb over the years.

The 50th Art-A-Fest was particularly special for artist Judy Sebern Beachy, whose design was selected to be the logo for this year’s event.

“It’s extra special because it’s the 50th anniversary,” said Sebern Beachy.

A Charles City native who said she fondly remembers attending Art-A-Fest as a child, Sebern Beachy is now retired and enjoys spending her time working with stencils and watercolors, being a frequent face at Art-A-Fest since 2015.

Seeing her design adorned on t-shirts and flyers throughout the park was a highlight of the day for her.

“I wanted a T-shirt that was fun,” said Sebern Beachy, who says she has a hard time deciding which color T-shirt she likes best to go with the logo.

Sebern Beachy’s design was one of five choices submitted for people to vote on during last year’s festival. She has a new design in the running for 2024, but faces more competition with 15 entries vying to be selected

“It’s fabulous that there’s so many now,” she said.

While many of the artists at the festival were longtime mainstays, about a third of the vendors this year were new to the show.

Among the new entries at this year’s Art-A-Fest were students from Charles City High School, presenting a booth at the festival for the first time. Student artists Addison Tracey, Ellie Gassman and Kassey Kakac were on-site to sell paintings, earrings and mugs, getting an early taste of the commercial artist experience.

“It’s been great,” said Gassman. “It’s really nice that we got to do this.”

Along with the student artists, volunteers from the middle school spent the afternoon helping with the festival in a variety of ways, from supporting the sound technician, to performing face painting, to staffing the kids craft tables.

Students weren’t the only ones at the craft tables either.

Alysa Goethe, crowned Miss Iowa 2023 earlier this summer, stopped by Charles City to spend some time in the park showing kids how to make their own tiaras.

“I’m a music teacher, so anything promoting the fine arts I’m a fan of,” said Goethe.

Along with all of the art on display, visitors enjoyed a variety of musical stylings throughout the day.

Seventeen-year-old James Aissen of Clarksville kicked things off in the morning with a piano performance, followed by the acoustic guitar and vocals of Emily Ann Bauer. Finishing out the afternoon were The Love Radishes, a cover band that features Charles City natives Jerry Lee Funk and Dan Linde.

While most of the action was happening in Central Park, visitors could also stop inside the Charles City Arts Center, which was open at no charge to look at displays or attend one of the immersive art sessions.

The featured display at the arts center for the month of August is “Not My Grandma’s Quilt” by Erik Jon Olson, who crafted several quilt-like works using recycled plastics.

A steady breeze throughout the day helped keep the heat away, keeping the park filled with a steady crowd that shopped, ate and enjoyed the afternoon.

“It’s worth it when there’s a good turnout like this,” said Koebrick Schmidt.