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closeA commuity celebration of art
Joan Cronk / for The Herald
Kim Ehrenheim, chairperson of the Sumner Arts Festival, is one busy woman. Along with her very competent committee, she has spent the last year arranging for everything from Honey Buckets to canopies and stages for entertainment. The festival, which runs in downtown Sumner on Aug. 1 and 2, promises to be one of the best ever.
Ehrenheim says the festival is important for many reasons.
“Just bringing together the community, family, friends and businesses all alike. It is a really nice festival,” she said.
The committee meets to chalk the streets the night before the festival begins, marking each vendor’s space. Ehrenheim’s husband, Pat, takes the day off and picks up all the tables and chairs for the food court. Her son, Nick, and his friends spend Friday and Saturday hauling around wagons filled with lemonade and iced tea for the vendors. The committee even mans a booth now and then when the vendors need a break. This festival is definitely a community effort.
Stuart Scheuerman is publicity chairman and has been involved for about six years. He said the event is a huge undertaking and he stays involved in it because “I care about Sumner and the festival is a very important festival for the city of Sumner. It brings new faces to the city and a lot of local non-profit organizations have booths here. It is a good family oriented festival.”
Last year, the event drew between 10,000 and 15,000 people. Sumner merchants also benefit from the flood of new faces to downtown Sumner.
Parking is always an issue, but on Saturday the Sound Transit parking lot is available and offers many spaces. Police and paramedics will be on site and Brad Moericke, deputy chief of the Sumner Police Department, said his officers help wherever they are needed.
“We have always been involved in the preparation and set up, setting up barricades, and a number of us volunteer for the event,” he said.
The department is prepared with additional staffing.
Russ McCallion, assistant chief for operations and EMS at East Pierce Fire and Rescue, said his crew will have additional staff and personnel on hand.
“We will employ a golf cart equipped with medical supplies to get into congested areas,” he said, although he added generally the Sumner Arts Festival is “not a high call event from the 911 perspective.”
Amy Anderson has a 3-year-old and knows what it is like to drag a kid through the streets of Sumner on a hot day and so she decided it was time to set aside a special area that would offer some entertainment for the little ones.
Her space is located on Alder Street and will have a few educational booths, one being a children’s dental center that will offer packets of information about brushing and have some games as well.
East Pierce Fire and Rescue is coming in with a fire demonstration about awareness and safety for children and will have some giveaways and show a movie and put on a skit. Also on site will be a bouncing toy and a craft table with a coloring station where kids can make bookmarks or other creative projects. Anderson even arranged for someone to build a small sandbox for the smaller kids. All of the events for children are free.
Louann Spencer, owner of Folkart Gathering, is in charge of the burger booth, which is a fundraiser for Sumner Downtown Association.
“We have had the booth for years and years,” said Spencer. “It is a fun thing. This year I’ve asked businesses to take a whole shift, which is two hours.”
That way, Spencer explained, the crew can wear shirts advertising their businesses, funny hats, whatever they want to show the community that they are enthusiastic about participating in their hometown festival. Ben DeGoede of Windmill Gardens always flips the burgers. Last year they pre-sold hamburgers to local business and that was a great success.
Barbara Skinner, former Sumner mayor, said the Rotary Club pie booth is another hot item at the festival. Their booth will be selling apple, strawberry, rhubarb and marionberry pies. Folks can buy a whole pie, or just a slice. Their booth is always located in the food court and the club usually makes about $4,000 on the booth.
The Sumner Arts Festival is more than 30 years old and offers everything from artwork, food and entertainment. All artists must produce their own work, no mass production is allowed and visitors will find many unique handcrafted items.
There are more than 100 artist booths that have been strict criteria for standards. Entertainment surrounds the entire event and offers something for everyone. There is enough food to satisfy even the most discriminating palate.
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Sumner Arts Festival
The Sumner Arts Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 1, and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2.