A park full of art

• Caughlan

Photographer John Caughlan of Superior Photographs and Portraits out of St. Cloud talked with a crowd about his popular print at Art in the Park that depicted the flooding on the Gooseberry River after the area was hit with eight inches of rain in less than 24 hours on June 20. (Photo by Eric Morken)
• Ohman

New Hope’s Matt Ohman, 20, sketched on his notepad near his dad, Doug Ohman’s, photography booth at Art in the Park on Saturday afternoon.
• Gyros

A gyros food stand was a popular destination over the weekend and one of the many food options for people at Art in the Park.
• Patchouli

The musical group Patchouli played for a crowd on Saturday afternoon.
• Woodcrafting booth

A booth with a unique style of woodcrafting was one of the many forms of art on display at City Park.

Talk about it

It was hard to tell what was more beautiful last weekend – the weather or the art. The Alexandria Area Arts Association’s (AAAA) 37th annual Art in the Park was a big hit, drawing thousands of people to City Park Saturday and Sunday. They browsed through more than 150 booths featuring arts and crafts from artisans around the country.

One of the vendors told AAAA executive director Benjamin Klipfel that for the first time in 25 years, she saw a “wall of people” coming down the hill to browse the arts and crafts and to partake of a variety of food items. “The numbers were great,” Klipfel said. “And we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful weekend.”

As in past years, one of the biggest challenges of the event was parking but with help from the Rainbow Rider shuttle bus and Jaycees volunteers, the process went smoothly, Klipfel said.

A new attraction, “Kids Art Avenue,” added to the event’s success. It provided make-and-take crafts for children.

Tags: local news, news, art