Wasilla offers new Art Walk event at Wonderland Thursdays

WASILLA — Summer in Alaska doesn’t come much finer than this — temperatures in the mid-70s, no rain and a slight breeze that carries the scent of and lilac blossoms and roasting hot dogs.

Add to that live music, performance artists, vendors and the sweet sounds of kids at play and it’s tough to beat Thursday’s Wasilla Art Walk at Wonderland Park. The first-year event began June 2 and continues on Thursdays through July 28 from 2 to 7 p.m. at Wonderland Park.

Organizer Henry Hartman said the final Art Walk of the season will be an extravaganza of music and performance art. All of the musicians who have performed during the season will return to give a final performance for the season.

Hartman said the daytime event grew out of the Music in the Park evening event that his family’s music store has put on for the last five years.

He said James Hastings, Recreation and Cultural Services manager for the city of Wasilla, approached the Hartmans with the idea as a way to get more people out and using the city parks during the day.

Hartman said the idea also is to provide a venue to showcase local performers and other artists.

People can set up a booth for $20 for the day and get their art out here, he said. And, he doesn’t mind if they only book booth space for just one week, instead of the whole season.

“It’s a chance for local artists to get their art out there,” Hartman said. “And you can have a lot of fun.”

That’s true, said woodcarver Monty Mangum, who is busily carving cottonwood bark into wood spirits.

“This is going to be a neat venue. I hope it takes off,” he said.

He also carves diamond willow walking sticks, crafts cutting boards from recycled bowling lanes and halves bowling pins to create cribbage boards.

Mangum says he’s all about using recycled materials, like the letter openers he made out of the scrap wood left from the kitchen spreaders he cut out.

He’s also selling what looks like sporks on steroids, but he said it’s really just a special spade he made with a row of sharp teeth that make digging easier on his back. Mangum said he calls the new tool M. Diggie.

Other vendors offered artwork such as copper carvings and panoramic photography.

In the stage area the Gaia Tribal Belly Dance Troupe demonstrates some basic moves.

In the chalk drawing area, Carson Frank is focused on the belly dancers. He said he knows the moves and might be tempted to join in, except he doesn’t have a costume.

His friend Ema Grasser explains: “He has the costume, just not with him.”

Frank is a familiar part of the Burchell Dancers.

The teens said they were hanging out, playing with sidewalk chalk and killing time until their friends from the Sahara Storm Tribal Dance Troupe arrived.

“Wonderland has so many events here. It’s pretty cool,” said Grasser, a senior at Wasilla High School.

She said she’s a big fan of the park and knows the stories from her mom about how volunteers from the community worked together to build it in the late 1990s.

“This is a great park,” she said. “I’ve been coming here since I was 3.”

For more information, or to reserve a booth, contact wasillaartswalk@gmail.com.

Contact Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.