Photo and story by Catherine Stachowiak
The art association invites the public to attend its Community Barbeque 10am to 7pm Thursday, July 4, at the Art Center in Wofford Heights.
Friday June 28, the president of the Kern River Valley Art Association, Christopher Buffalo Folsom told the Kern Valley Sun what to expect.
Folsom said, “We wanted to do a community event. And the Fourth of July, of course, is all about community as a nation. So we wanted to do some type of old fashioned thing. And we started out as having it be a barbeque and community get together.”
Ultimately because of all the rules and regulations, the KRVAA wasn’t able to hold a traditional barbeque, because they don’t have a license for such events. Therefore the KRVAA decided to bring in Cadillac Dogs, and open the event up to vendors, having their pop ups and selling their goods, and opening the Art and Community Center, the big building, and having people come in for an Open House.
“The idea behind it is because this year’s Fourth of July is on a Thursday, so people are going to take a very long weekend; there’s going to be a lot of traffic coming through,” said Folsom. “Currently with the big building we’ve got so much more exposure than usual. Not to mention the little coffee place. So we just thought people are traveling (and) they’re going to stop in. They’ll find out about us. They’ll find out about the valley.”
This event is the first July 4 celebration of this type the KRVAA has planned.
Folsom said, “One of the supporting factors of this is the Neighbor To Neighbor Grant and working with the county. Again I can’t emphasize more that it’s about the community. It’s really about bringing the community together, giving it a social venue that people can come and talk to each other, and enjoy each other’s company, and just be comfortable. I think we’ll probably have movies going on at the same time.
One of the stipulations of the Neighbor To Neighbor Grant is to provide community events. And initially KRVAA is supposed to hold a little over one event per month, which the association already does. Folsom said, “It goes back to the biggest problem in the country right now is loneliness. It seems to be in epidemic proportions. This is one way that people can come and socialize and feel safe. It’ll give everybody something to do on the Fourth of July, since the fireworks aren’t until Saturday. It’ll be good.”
