Beauty and the Beach is back, heralding the Spring as it does each year. The City of Indian Rocks Beach's annual city-wide event will be held on Saturday, April 7, from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. As usual, there are two primary venues for this popular event.
The day will start at 8 a.m. at the County Park on 18th Avenue Access with Guppy's Gulfside Gallop, a 5K & 1 mile fun run/walk on the beach. At 11 a.m., at the same location, live music will begin, featuring local band, Stover and Young. Beachgoers wile away the day basking in the sun, tasting food from local restaurants and having a brew or two. Bring your beach chairs and plenty of sunscreen.
Also scheduled at the County Park Beach Acess at 2 p.m., is the "Little Miss Beauty and the Beach contest. Girls, ages 6 - 12 may sign up under the tent at 1 p.m.
Follow the signs across Gulf Blvd. to Kolb Park, and find 90 fine artists and crafters displaying their work in the Beach Arts Center Arts and Crafts Festival from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Among the local artists showing will be Arlene Alldredge of Safety Harbor with her decorative clay sea creatures; Anne Castle, Largo, whose calligraphy and small decorative furniture pieces are well-known to show goers; Greg Bechtel of Largo with his copper metal sculptures. Susanna Spann, nationally known watercolorist, who makes her home in Bradenton, will be exhiting. Also found in the Park will be jewelers, photographers, potters, painters and various creative crafts.
The Indian Rocks Beach Rotary Club will serve a pancake breakfast in the Beach Art Center main hall from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tickets for all-you-can-eat may be purchased at the door.
The Indian Rocks Beach Friends of the Library will hold its "Biggest Book Sale Ever" in the city auditorium starting at 9:30 a.m. The Library has a huge assortment of donated books, all going for a small donation. Come early for the best choices.
Chalk Walk 2007 will line Bay Palm Blvd. with street art modeled after the tradition of Italian street painters. The street will be marked off into 8'x8' squares where anyone who wishes, may express their creativity in artist's pastels and children's chalk. Students from the public schools, professional artists, adult art students, families and friends all make up a collage of artistic endeavor. Festivalgoers will be able to stop and kibitz while the artists work. The squares are sponsored by local businesses and friends of the Beach Art Center. Be sure to view this colorful venue on Saturday for it only lasts a day and vanishes with the sun.
Don't miss the Beach Art Center Pottery Studio members, demonstrating the "wheel" and let anyone who wishes, take a turn. They will be found on the front porch of the Beach Art Center. Members of the pottery studio will sell their "orphans", pottery that has been abandoned or perhaps has a flaw or two. The prices will be right.
Beach Art Center members will serve hamburgers, hot dogs, beer and soft drinks in the gazebo. Please grab a bite there, as this food area is to benefit the art center.
New this year, sponsored by the Beach Art Center, will be a children's craft tent.
All kids are invited to come and express themselves creatively with clowns Paula Allen and Sherri Lunquist of St. Petersburg.
Also for the young ones, will be a children's chalk walk, and a free children's book give-away. The give-away is sponsored by CEEDCO who administers the "Reading to Succeed" program, in conjunction with SeaShellBooks.com and the Kiwanis Club of Seminole Breakfast, which has provided reading books to more than 350,000 preschool and elementary school children since 2004.
The event will be going to the dogs this year. Greyhounds of America will be on site with their beautiful retired racers all hoping to find a home. At least stop by, gaze into those soulful eyes and leave a small donation for a worthy cause. At the other end of the park, the Golden Retriever Rescue of Mid-Florida will also wish to make everyone's acquaintance.
The cake sale will be found in the King Gallery. All of the featured cakes, cookies and pies will be made from "scratch". There will be a "Café des Artists" in the gallery where one might sit down and have a cup of coffee and a few cookies or a piece of cake while admiring the Members' Show on display..
Beauty and the Beach is sponsored by The City of Indian Rocks Beach and the Beach Art Center. The project is funded in part by the Pinellas County Commission through the Pinellas County Cultural Affairs Department Cultural Development Grant Program. For further information, call 4331.
