Art in the Park arrives at Stephens Lake Park

After 48 years, Art in the Park arrived Saturday at Stephens Lake Park, where the Columbia Art League hopes it will stay for good.

The move from Stephens College to Stephens Lake has been three years in the making while the league waited on renovations, said Jill Stedem, executive director of the league. With renovations complete, vendors brought their tents to the lakeside location and welcomed the estimated 15,000 to 18,000 visitors that will travel the winding path by this evening.

Stedem said that though change can be difficult, she has received several comments from the public describing how pleased they were overall. Mary Juettner, a Columbia resident who has attended the festival for nearly 15 years, said she thought it looked great. “It seems to be a pretty setting and parking is close,” Juettner said. “The free shuttle is nice.”

The location change and shuttle service were arranged to help bring together the goal of the event: “to give people the opportunity to see art that they would otherwise not get to view,” Stedem said.

Within the 125 art booths, visitors explored wood carving, sculpture, photography, ceramics and other art mediums. A mobile glass blowing unitfrom Southern Illinois University in Carbondale was also invited. This mobile studio, nicknamed “Aunt Gladys”, needs only propane to operate. Allison Dunoan, a recent graduate of Southern Illinois University, explained the demonstration while professor Jim Weiler created a bright-orange vase with two dark red handles on either side.

According to Dunoan, Weiler first extracted molten glass from the furnace on one side of the unit, then began to mold it into the shape he wanted, using heat resistant material to cover his hand. In order to obtain a symmetrical shape, “you have to turn it constantly,” she explained. The glass has to be placed back into a second furnace, called the glory hole, which provides heat, but does not hold molten glass within it.

“Whenever we finish, it takes all night to cool,” Dunoan said. This process is called annealing. The pieces that Weiler made during Saturday’s demonstration were put on display near their unit.

Demonstrations such as glass blowing brought many families to the event. Kristian Wilson, a faculty member from the MU School of Nursing, attended with her husband andchildren. “I really enjoyed the activities,” she said. “It’s a great place to take your family and really enjoy art from around the country. The move to Stephens is really kid friendly.”

One booth was the cause of debate at the event — Les Bourgeois. After receiving permission from the City Council in early May, the winery was able to sell liquor under certain conditions. Les Bourgeois was left in charge of regulating liquor consumption. Laura Royse, director of marketing and sales for the winery, said the majority of people bought wine to take home. “People have to sign a piece of paper when buying,” she said, and they sell one bottle a day per person.

In Wilson’s opinion, the sale of wine is fine if it’s done in a responsible way. “Something added for adults, but it’s certainly not the focus of the event,” she said.

Stedem said the choice to welcome Les Bourgeois was “a good way to tie everything together — wine, art, jazz and blues.”