Millstream Arts Pageant is rousing success
by Dennis Dalman
news@thenewsleaders.com
Again in its full glory after two phantom years, the juried Millstream Arts Pageant Aug. 28 was a rousing success in downtown St. Joseph.
After about 40 years, the Millstream Arts Pageant needed to be cancelled or drastically curtailed up to now two years due to COVID-19 considerations. The pageant began within the early Eighties on the campus of the School of St. Benedict. Later, it was moved each fall to Riverside Park, then to Minnesota Road and this time to North School Avenue.
Its date was modified to this time to coincide with school college students returning for the varsity yr. That was evident on the pageant as St. John’s College “Johnnies” and School of St. Benedict “Bennies” could possibly be seen all alongside the avenue, mixing with the crowds.
On an overcast day, individuals of all ages (and lots of canines) strolled backwards and forwards alongside School Avenue North, having fun with and/or buying artwork works on show at 46 tents and stands lined up in the course of the road.
And there was quite a bit to take pleasure in: textiles, ceramics, pen-and-ink drawing, jewellery, multi-media creations, acrylic work, watercolor work, oil portray, letterpress prints, woodwork, pictures, steel sculptures, glass works, books and their authors – a veritable kaleidoscope of colours, textures, shapes.
Many festival-goers popped into retailers alongside or close to School Avenue for treats like ice cream, pastries, pizza, sandwiches or full-fledged meals. The Krewe restaurant workers made sambusas, which offered like scorching muffins from an out of doors stand within the music space. Sambusas, very fashionable amongst Somalis, are triangular-shaped fried pastries full of greens, spices and infrequently floor meat.
The Avon People Faculty supplied youngsters’s artwork actions: portray, drawing and a sidewalk space for chalk artwork.
Leisure was supplied by a band named Miss Darling Jane (its feminine members are college students on the School of St. Benedict), Josh Cleveland and Band, Buddy King and Son (a father-son drumming duo) and a dance troupe from the Somali Museum of Minnesota (Minneapolis).
The pageant lasted from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sponsored this time by Sentry Financial institution, the pageant was made attainable by a grant from the Central Minnesota Arts Board, funds supplied by the state legislature; help from the Central Neighborhood Basis and the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict; and the management and imaginative and prescient of Alicia Peters, the pageant’s president and an artwork trainer on the School of St. Benedict. Peters was honored with the Minnesota Larger Training’s Artwork Instructor of the Yr Award for 2001-02.
Additionally contributing to the pageant’s success have been the various volunteers who helped issues run easily.
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