Chesapeake Arts Festival returns to Lakeside Park in South Norfolk

The Chesapeake Arts Show returns this weekend to South Norfolk after a two-year hiatus, and the new spring date fittingly signals a rebirth.

The Hope House Foundation fundraiser showcased regional artwork for three years in late summer or early fall then took a break in 2006 and 2007. The fourth Chesapeake Arts Show (formerly the Chesapeake Fine Arts & Crafts Festival) will take place Saturday and Sunday at its home and birthplace, Lakeside Park.

The arts show was born at the end of September 2003. It was held at this time until 2005. That's when organizers, the Hope House Foundation, and an ad-hoc committee of fine arts supporters and other Chesapeake activists, decided to tweak and reschedule.

The committee included Nicole Benson, gallery coordinator for the Portlock Galleries at SoNo; the city's Fine Arts Coordinator L. Randy Harrison; Fine Arts Commissioner Carol Abramson; Chesapeake Parks and Recreation Department Director Bobby Clifton; and South Norfolk residents/activists/volunteers Bill and Debbie Rountree. The committee also received input from the Chesapeake Friends of the Arts; City Councilman Cliff Hayes, who is council liaison with the city's Arts Commission; and Kim Murden, who heads Chesapeake's Conventions and Tourism department.

Elena Berry, who has been coordinating the annual Stockley Gardens Art Show in Norfolk since the early 1990s, said the show is worth saving and its venue at Lakeside Park is a plus.

It's just that the timing has been lousy.

During its inaugural run in 2003, Hurricane Isabel knocked the fest into October. The next year brought more late summer/early fall weather turbulence, which kept some crowds away. And then it was positioned between its more successful cousin, the Stockley Gardens Art Show, and the Virginia Beach's Neptune Festival, which drained some of the participating artists, musicians and spectators.

"Even after Isabel, people still came out, but we decided September was not a good time," Berry said. "And besides the weather, it's at the end of the art show season and we saw that we were competing with Stockley and the Neptune Festival. Now it's like we're kicking off the outdoor arts season."

Berry said the event will advertise on three strategically placed billboards throughout Chesapeake; Benson and the folks at the Portlock Galleries will organize many hands-on and "Make It and Take It" arts activities for children; and, thanks to the new spring date, the festival has attracted 50 artists.

"It's amazing the response we got. They are all well-known area artists," Berry said. "This time the artists came to us."

The show will feature photography, jewelry, sculpture, glass work, drawing, watercolor, acrylics, oils, etchings, prints and mixed-media. Artists will be judged, and awards will be announced Saturday at an After-Hours Party at the park from 5 to 7 p.m. where patrons and artists will mingle, meet and greet.

The show will also feature Bobby the Clown for children and several diverse acclaimed local and regional music acts including Lori Shapiro, Beleza, Narissa Bond, the Bay Youth Orchestra, the Pawn Shop Lifters, Skip Friel and returning Chesapeake native Nate Sparks (see story, next page).

The show's early struggles should not alarm supporters, patrons and artists. The Stockley Gardens Art Show developed slowly before becoming an iconic show whose popularity reaches beyond Norfolk's borders. That show is one of the biggest fundraisers for the Hope House Foundation - a nonprofit group that helps mentally disadvantaged adults achieve independence, self-worth and esteem.

As it was becoming popular, organizers moved the show from Stockley Gardens to Town Point Park by Waterside. It was a huge mistake.

"It crashed and burned there," said Berry, who has been organizing the Stockley show for more than a dozen years. "That proved to us that bigger is not better; everybody loved where it began and where it takes place: Stockley Gardens near Norfolk's Hague. The show took us at least five years to develop and build a following. And it's still continuing to grow. I know out-of-town guests now schedule their visit to this area around the show."

Susan Rowling, co-president of the Chesapeake Friends of the Arts with Bill Rountree, said Berry was the steadying captain during the Chesapeake Art Show's growing pains.

"Elena's been good for this event," she said. "She's been there, she's been through the Stockley Gardens show. She helped that grow, and she'll do that for us. When people got discouraged, she told them to stay with it. It will grow."

Rowling said the Friends are thrilled to have another major arts activity in Chesapeake. She said the show is one more pearl held together by the string that is South Norfolk and Lakeside Park.

"It makes art more accessible to the public and it brings artists, musicians and patrons to this historic area of Chesapeake," Rowling said. "Warren Harris (former head of the city's Economic Development office and now in the same role in Virginia Beach) viewed all those events and places as 'pearls on a string.' It all helps with the area's ongoing revitalization. You find art coming to this area, then economic development and tourism come hand-in-hand. This makes people aware of the historic and arts nature of South Norfolk and its neighbors."

Harrison said she has seen communities come alive with the infusion of artists and arts communities.

"The same will happen for South Norfolk," she said. "It's an area in a state of flux, and something like the art show acts as a catalyst for all this."

Berry said she is hoping for good weather and large crowds this weekend.

"We've got the art, we've got the music, we've got the perfect setting," she said. "The public will not be disappointed."

Eric Feber, 222-5203,

eric.feber@pilotonline.com