Youth art, music will be featured Aug. 16-18

The Park Rapids Lakes Area Arts Council will showcase the artistic talents of area youth during Youth Music and Art Showcase IV Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Aug. 16-18 in downtown Park Rapids.

Student artists’ works, including paintings, photography, sculpture and pottery, will be shown at businesses in downtown Park Rapids. A panel of judges will view the students’ works. Four $100 scholarships will be given to high school students and four $25 scholarships to middle school age students. A schedule of the young artists and venues will be available to guide people to all locations. Day care providers and parents of preschoolers are invited to do chalk art on downtown sidewalks Friday morning. Free chalk will be available at Wildwood Enchantment, 209 South Main Ave.

Young musicians will perform in a concert from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 16, the last in the 2nd Street Stage summer music series. Solo performers in the line up are Camille Henderson, Taylor Schroeder, Autumn Pendegayosh, Tim Walsh and Alex Ziemann. Carly and Jake Helfrich will perform as a duo and three bands will take to the stage: Incredibly Real (Dan and Jack Walsh, Jack Bateman, Logan Veo and Derek Reichling) and Undecided (Trai Schmidt, Edgar Guajardo, Corey Joslyn and Josh Johnson).

Guest band will be Aitas from Staples. Andrew Capistrant, Chris O’Brien, Ethan Fleisher and Wyat Schwichtenberg began writing music together three years ago for a show at their hometown fair. Since then they’ve played throughout the state and opened for national acts like John Wayne and The Brew. A blend of reggae, rock and blues, the youths continue to grow in their style.

Friday afternoon, piano students, including Maeve Bolton, Keegan Heegard, Coral Johnson, Paige Leeseberg, Mary Rose Nichols, Cascade Oppitz, Brooklyn Partlow, Cody Smith and Ellie Ulvin will play at Bella Caffè and other young musicians will entertain in Pioneer Park on Main Street. The Pine Point drum group, Prairie Thunder, and a grass dancer will perform at 1:30 p.m. and the reggae band, Make the Most (Roger Fenzel and Josh and Brandon Prendiz) will play in the late afternoon. A number of the youth participating in Thursday night’s concert also will perform Friday afternoon.

Funding for Youth Music and Art Showcase IV is provided, in part, by Itasca-Mantrap’s Operation Round Up and a Region 2 Arts Council grant through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature, and the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund passed by Minnesota voters on Nov. 4, 2008.