For
Immediate Release
Contact: Kara Norman
Greater
Frederick Development Corporation
301-698-8118
Downtown Frederick’s First Saturday
Gallery Walk
Saturday, August 2
Take a break from the air conditioning and
come experience a summer evening outside for historic Downtown Frederick’s
First Saturday Gallery Walk. Join over
60 participating galleries, shops and restaurants this August 2, until 9:00
p.m., as they showcase the best of what Downtown Frederick has to offer. Enjoy live entertainment and music, mingle
with featured artists and view new exhibits.
Treat yourself to a spa sample, snack on hors d’oeuvres and sip
beverages offered while seeing new products from many of the specialty shops
around town.
Rod Deacey, a singer and songwriter as
well as one of the proprietors from Market Street Jewelry, has organized
musicians to perform on the streets around Downtown Frederick. “The musicians perform styles ranging from
contemporary folk, blues and some pop,” Deacey explains, “For example, this
month Folk Explosion’s Kate Brown is scheduled to perform near the intersection
of 2nd and Market.” Formally
being a soloist street musician himself throughout Europe, you often can find
Deacey performing during First Saturday Gallery Walk.
This month's Gallery Walk also features
two fundraisers for local nonprofits. The Spirit Gallery, at 342 North Market
Street, opens Everything That Rises-a benefit art show for Hope Alive,
Inc.-on Saturday, August 2 from 5 to 11 p.m. Gallery Walkers can enjoy the
opening reception, live music and the opportunity to meet the featured artists,
Linda Toomey and Criselle Anderson. Toomey, a Downtown Frederick resident, and
Anderson, of Baltimore, will showcase their paintings in the month-long
exhibition, which highlights the inherent power and beauty in the everyday
events that make up a person's life.
Both artists and
the owner of the Spirit Gallery, John Holly, are donating a large percentage of
their proceeds from the show, and Melanie Gettier is donating her commission as
the show's organizer to Hope Alive, Inc.
The non-profit organization, founded in August 2002,
is working to provide a haven of hope for homeless women and children.
"Homelessness is on the rise in this area, and women and children are the
most at-risk group," Gettier states. "It's an issue that is far too
easy to overlook, and I'm hoping this show draws some attention to the problem
and the impressive and important work Hope Alive is doing."
At the Frederick Arts Council, the Market
and Patrick Street windows will be filled with twenty-five painted, carved and
decorated mirrors by such artists as Harriet Wise, Linda Postelle, Harry
Richardson and Doug Moulden. The
mirrors kick off the August 20 Advocates for the Homeless Families’ Annual Gala
Fundraiser and Silent Auction. Gallery
Walkers can stroll by the windows, pick out a favorite mirror and make a
pre-auction bid anytime through August 17 by calling the Advocates for the
Homeless at (301) 662-2003.
First Saturday Gallery Walk is a monthly
event sponsored by the Greater Frederick Development Corporation (GFDC) in cooperation with downtown
merchants, the Tourism Council of Frederick County, and the City’s Department
of Economic Development.
For more information on these and other
happenings, contact GFDC at
301-698-8118.