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Celebration of art

Jump into the extravaganza as Arts Walk XXXIV ignites a creative spark in downtown Olympia

By Molly Gilmore | For The Olympian • Published April 26, 2007

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Arts Walk is the most wonder ful time of the year, according to Sydney Hann, who owns the funky boutique Hot Toddy in downtown Olympia.

"Everyone's so amazed," she said. "The shops are so cute, and the art is so wonderful. It's like Christmas for me.

"It's just that jolly, merry feeling that people have. Everyone's excited. There's a buzz in the air."

Hann is far from the only one who's eagerly awaiting Arts Walk XXXIV, a collage of arts of all kinds happening Friday and Saturday at businesses throughout downtown Olympia.

This year, there's a record number of locations for the biannual event, which is particularly big in spring when it is combined with Saturday's Procession of the Species - and when the efforts of South Sound schoolchildren often are showcased along with works by professional and amateur painters, potters, photographers and performing artists.

"There are 131 spots on the map, and I think the most we've ever had was 123," said Arts Walk organizer Erin Conine of the Olympia Department of Parks, Arts and Recreation. "It was quite a jump. I was worried about finding space, but it worked out."

Hann said, "Arts Walk provides a wonderful opportunity for a creative outlet, whether you're an artist in a window, whether you're walking in the parade or whether you're just wandering around downtown doing random performance art.

"It's the atmosphere of art that I love."

Hot Toddy, 410 Capitol Way S., is doing all of those things. (Hann and daughters Zela, 9, and Mirin, 7, students at Lincoln Elementary School, might participate in Procession, too.)

Hann is celebrating her store's first official Arts Walk with mosaics by cover-map artist Jennifer Kuhn, oil paintings by Bethany Hays and folk-pop music by Dream Kitchen on the sidewalk out front.

Both Hot Toddy and Bella Boutique also will have models strolling around, possibly accompanied by a photographer. "They'll be really outrageously dressed to the nines," Hann said.

This Arts Walk is the first for about a dozen new businesses, Conine said.