Laura's September Update

September kicked off with a heat wave, and we were as busy as ever! I spent the first few days of the month making sure everything was lined up for Art Blast, Greensboro’s biggest annual event. This included answering emails, working with Darlene to organize schedules for music, and calling vendors to confirm their participation. Labor Day weekend rolled around, and boy was it a scorcher! We had vendors set up around the gazebo and under tents, as they would be there from 8am to sometime in the mid-afternoon. We had asked our best-selling vendors to consider extending their hours this weekend for Art Blast, and many of them agreed to do so. Unfortunately, the change in set-up and the extremely warm weather might have kept many people away. Thankfully for our second day, we saw some cooler weather - which meant a LOT more people! I was down in Greensboro early in the morning to help reorganize our set-up, since we decided to move everyone who was previously at the gazebo up to the log cabin in the pursuit of a more cohesive arrangement. Despite some clouds and a few rain showers, we definitely had more people come to Day 2 of the event. We also had some vendors who decided not to come for the 2nd day, which ended up being ok because space up at the Log Cabin was more limited than down near the gazebo. We had easily over 200 people today, and next year's event will be even more successful!

After the holiday weekend we had the C&O Canal Towpath town tours! We visited the towns of Paw Paw, WV, Little Orleans and Williamsport, MD, Shepherdstown and Harper's Ferry, WV, Brunswick, and Point of Rocks, MD. Along the way we met with the Two Rivers Heritage/Two Rivers Heritage Partnership, people who work with some of the towns’ Merchants Associations, and local government and city council representatives. While in these towns, we were able to appreciate their many historic buildings, along with some of the struggles they face now, including vacant storefronts and blighted properties. All in all, a wonderful experience!

Throughout the month, Ashley and I worked on the public art for Greensboro and Point Marion, a project that was funded through the Sprout Fund Seed Award program. We are working on putting a committee together that will mix local residents with local artists, so that we can get their input on ideas for a location, and how to use certain mediums (glass & pottery) to tell the "Greensboro story".

I also volunteered at Friendship Hill’s annual Festifall event, which is a celebration of the life & times of Albert Gallatin (the original owner of Friendship Hill). We dressed in period costumes in order to fit in with the theme of the day/event. I worked the tent that had period-style toys and candy for sale. We also had toys for the kids to play with - one of them even asked "How do you turn it on?" We got to see some interesting demonstrations, hear readings from Albert Gallatin's letters to his wife, and saw several military reenactments!

The month wrapped up with a team-building day: both the Connellsville teams and the Green Cities group came together for an SCA bicycle ride/catch up day in Ohiopyle! It was a chilly, overcast fall day, but we warmed up considerably when the sun would peek through. As always, it was great to see the Green Cities team and hear about what they've been up to!