PITTSBORO — Gilda McDaniel retains video games like “Mailbox Insanity” and “Fowl Shot” in her storage year-round. Dozens of painted wood creatures and bean luggage of assorted shapes and colours are scattered across the video games.
Though she could appear to be a little bit of a hoarder, her storage is packed in preparation for someday annually: ClydeFest.
“That day stays with me all yr,” McDaniel stated. “It is particular for lots of causes.”
McDaniel, who can also be board chair of the Chatham Arts Council, has been serving to run the native family-friendly arts pageant for greater than 20 years, and her favourite day of the yr is quick approaching. The occasion, which this yr will happen on Saturday, April 22, brings collectively three of her favourite issues: her pricey good friend Clyde Jones—the pageant’s namesake—the Chatham Arts Council and Chatham County.
“The occasion is impressed by Clyde, whose motto has at all times been, ‘It is all in regards to the youngsters,'” McDaniel stated.
Jones, she added, was the type of old school man who stated we should always return to “the times of horses and buggies.” He longed for the straightforward lifetime of the outside and wished youngsters to expertise the enjoyment of getting soiled whereas creating artwork. It was on this spirit that ClydeFest was born a few years in the past.
The occasion initially started when Jones approached the Chatham Arts Council to host a pageant for youngsters within the Bynum space. Since then, it has became a singular occasion for the district and the state. CAC attracts performers, artists and non-profit organizations from as distant as Georgia to take part within the festivities.
“Clyde is probably the most open, type and beneficiant individual,” stated McDaniel, who has been an in depth good friend of Jones’ for years. “That is actually the character of this occasion, it comes from the center.”
Jones just lately celebrated his 86th birthday on April 1 and plans to attend this yr’s occasion to cap off his month of celebrations.
New place, similar ardour
This yr, the twenty first annual ClydeFest is shifting from its longtime residence at Bynum Soccer Discipline to the Chatham County Agricultural and Conference Heart in Pittsboro.
Based on Cheryl Chumbley, creative director of the CAC, the change of venue was made to enhance the accessibility of the occasion. She stated rising pageant attendance means extra parking is required than Bynam can accommodate. The brand new location can also be extra centrally positioned for extra Chatham residents, which means extra locals will be capable to attend the humanities pageant.
Final yr’s occasion had greater than 2,000 attendees, and organizers count on extra this yr with a bigger venue.
“Being at Bynum Soccer Discipline all these years has been completely magical,” Chambly stated. “And we’re extremely grateful to the Bynum neighborhood as a result of it means a lot to them to have so many individuals in the neighborhood for the weekend.”
However as a lot love and magic goes into this ballpark, Chumbley stated it simply does not maintain the quantity of individuals — or parking — wanted for an occasion as massive as ClydeFest.
Out there artwork
Whereas the logistics of the brand new location weren’t simple to navigate, Chumbley stated she believes it’s going to repay as a result of the occasion shall be accessible to extra individuals.
Making certain higher entry and decreasing potential boundaries to the humanities has been a longstanding purpose of the CAC. Final yr’s occasion was the primary time ClydeFest was free for all to attend, and that continues this yr.
A part of the rationale the occasion is open to everyone seems to be due to sponsors like The Jester Group of Baird, a household wealth administration agency in Chapel Hill. The agency has been the title sponsor of the pageant for the previous 4 years. Tracey Legg, who works for the Jester Group, has volunteered at ClydeFest together with her household for a number of years. She stated she thinks the occasion is effective as a result of it attracts all generations.
“My grown youngsters nonetheless have painted animals on their cabinets,” she stated. “We all know how essential the humanities could be, and this occasion actually embodies every part you assume youngsters must be doing nowadays.”
The brand new location additionally opens up alternatives for innovation on the two-decade-old pageant, together with new acts corresponding to a youth sitar ensemble, a West African drum circle and a efficiency by the Jordan-Matthews Excessive Faculty Golden Tones a cappella group.
The pageant may also characteristic acts who’ve change into ClydeFest staples such because the Bouncing Bulldogs tightrope group and bluegrass duo Carolina Lightnin’. Alice Zincone, who performs bass for the duo, says the group has been performing on the pageant for greater than a decade.
“We attempt to make our music enjoyable for youths,” Zincone stated. “I feel Clyde impressed us to do that and what he provides to households all around the county with this occasion.”
Broad strokes
The magic of ClydeFest additionally suits into the broader work of the CAC. The council goals to foster a ardour for the humanities amongst all county residents by intentional funding within the arts and the schooling of youngsters by the humanities.
ClydeFest suits each of those missions as a result of it is a one-day, family-oriented occasion that is all about doing issues collectively. Crafting is not about having the appropriate supplies or the most effective pens within the classroom, it is about artwork with the supplies at hand.
“The Chatham Arts Council has a imaginative and prescient that each member of the Chatham neighborhood could have entry to the humanities,” stated Chumbley. “At a time when the psychological well being of youngsters and the psychological well being of adults is admittedly being questioned, the humanities generally is a massive a part of the answer.”
The info help Chamblee’s speculation. Based on a 2016 Drexel College examine, partaking in artwork for no less than 45 minutes, particularly in a gaggle setting, considerably diminished contributors’ ranges of the stress hormone cortisol.
ClydeFest provides a chance to do exactly that — create artwork with different individuals.
“It is a one-day intervention,” Chumbley stated. “It is community-building, it is place-making, it is tremendous distinctive, and there is nothing else prefer it.”
Volunteers and occasion contributors agree with Chamblee’s reward. Debbie Bousquet has been collaborating within the occasion since 2003. She comes yearly as a result of ClydeFest is what she calls “a particular, magical pageant”.
“Day actually embodies Clyde Jones,” Bousquet stated. “He feels very passionately that it is for the ‘yungins,’ as he would say, and I feel everybody who volunteers and participates and performs suits that mannequin.”
In complete, greater than 200 volunteers are wanted to run the occasion. Bousquet, who was the volunteer coordinator for this yr’s occasion, stated preparations for Saturday’s occasion start early Thursday, with greater than 150 individuals organising tents, tables, artwork provides and merchandising stations. On the day of the occasion, greater than 60 volunteers from a wide range of native organizations participate in three-hour shifts, beginning at 7:30 a.m. with on-site setup and ending with teardown, which often ends round 6 p.m.
“You see youngsters who have been little youngsters 20 years in the past who at the moment are coming again to volunteer,” Bousquet stated. “That custom that households wish to proceed to be part of is fairly cool.”
Reporter Ben Rappaport could be reached at brappaport@chathamnr.com or on Twitter @b_rappaport
