Art Fest Pics

As promised, here are a few pictures I snapped with my camera phone from our visit to the Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts last night.

 We have been going to the Festival of the Arts every April for years.  Way before my kids were born.  In fact, the first one I remember going to was in seventh grade.  That would be 1990....so 22 years? Wow! Even I hadn't realized how long ago that was! Now it is an event my kids look forward to as well.  

Here are my three little people eagerly walking toward the festivities.

 Walking through the sculpture garden.

 Is my food here yet???

Now as every seasoned Arts Festival goer knows, the event is partly about the art and partly about the food.  The food is so good. There are your typical "fair foods" like cotton candy, roasted corn on the cob, and Indian Tacos.  But the majority of foods are more upscale.  There are even many vegetarian and vegan options which is nice.  And of course, the mandatory dessert is the Strawberries Newport.  It is a delightful concoction of puff pastry, sweet cream, fresh strawberries and whipped cream.  A must have.

I went with a fairly unsophisticated, but very yummy taco salad.  I was going to take a picture of our famous Strawberry dessert, but we devoured it in a matter of seconds.  Next year.

 After dinner, we strolled through the art tents. The girls were fascinated with the paintings this year.  I heard many statements like, "Did someone really paint that?!" There were lots of live demonstrations, and we paused to watch a woodworking event.  Live music permeated the air and we got in some good people watching too.  Finally, we headed over to the nearby Myriad Botanical Gardens.  There were several more outdoor stages with music drifting out over the crowds. The sun was setting and it was a simply beautiful night.

 We stopped to take it in and the kids instantly took off their shoes and began rolling down the hill in front of us.  A few other kids joined in and we watched them giggle in pure delight.

 Our last stop for the night was to check out the brand new Children's Garden.  It was amazing.  First you come to this large mosaic structure with colorfully changing lights and water fountains spraying intermittently from both below and above.  The evening was warm, and we indulged our kids a moment to run through the water.  It didn't take long before all three were soaking wet from head to toe.  They loved it!  

After the water experience, we played at the funky new modern playground adjacent to the "cool off zone" .  The kids were nearly dry by the time we left, way after the sun had gone down and way past their bedtimes. It was a quiet ride home, and we all went to bed happy and content.