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Festival bring art to Lee County

• Weekend events deliver health care and the arts to Lee County families.

Susan McCord

LEESBURG – The second annual "Under the Oaks" arts festival is an effort to bring the arts into the lives of Lee County families, according to organizer Julie Caldwell, director of marketing with the Lee County Chamber of Commerce.

"It's an arts festival that we feel can be a nice gathering for the whole family," Caldwell said. "We can provide entertainment and raise community awareness ... of the gift of art that we have in our own community."

The five-day event started Tuesday with a juried show of 51 entries of photography and other media, on display now at Leesburg United Methodist Church.

The contest drew entries from around Southwest Georgia, and honorable mention finisher Myric Horbuckle's painting "The Grant" was chosen to grace the cover of festival sponsor Plantation Publishing's 2009 Albany Area phone book, Caldwell said.

On Saturday, the entire family gets involved, with Under the Oaks' "At Day for Kids" and Arts Festival, to be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the grounds around Lee County Parks and Recreation in downtown Leesburg, she said.

Held in conjunction with the arts events, Lee County Family Connection sponsors its first health fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Lee County Recreation's gymnasium on Starksville Avenue.

Professional vendors will offer "all types of testing" and a variety of health services at the fair, Caldwell said.

Outside, dozens of vendors will offer arts crafts, foods and other items for all ages, including kids' face painting, popsicle house building, spin art, coloring, sticker crafts, piggy banks, sticker crafts, make-up, St. Patrick's Day crafts, flowers, photography, a puppet show and piano instruction, to name a few, she said.

Jazz bands from Lee County High School and Darton College will perform, as well as an interpretive dance troupe from Terrell Baptist Church.

As for the troupe, "they're going to be fully dressed," Caldwell said.

The event is funded as a Grassroots Art Program of the Georgia Council of the Arts through an appropriation made by the Georgia LEgislature, she said.

It's one of about nine the Lee Chamber holds each year that include an annual golf classic, tractor raffle, a fishing event and Christmas parade, Caldwell said.

These events help Lee Countians, many of whom have recently moved to the rapidly growing Albany suburb, get to know each other, she said.

"There are people that come from surrounding counties to the event, and some of them are actually relocating to the area," Caldwell said.

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