I hope everyone is surviving this heat wave and has a way to cool off…my pre-bedtime swim at Couchiching Beach Park is helping me stay sane. Still prefer this to the freezing cold of winter though!
The big event this week in arts and culture is the beginning of the Friday Night Summer Outdoor Artwalk series.
Downtown streets are closed to vehicles starting this Friday and every Friday through to Labour Day weekend. The Orillia Arts District has planned these artwalks for every other Friday during the street closures, so on July 10 and 24 and Aug. 7 and 21.
The artwalk will happen on Peter Street between Mississaga and Colborne Streets from 6 to 9 p.m. Participating galleries and artists so far include Hibernation Arts, the Shadowbox, Three Crows Speak Studio, Peter Street Fine Arts Gallery, Molly Farquharson, Patti Agapi, Tammy Henry, Gayle Schofield, and Sylvia Tesori. More will likely be added as the weeks roll out.
Orillia Museum of Art and History is opening one main-floor gallery for the artwalk this week. Entry will be from the courtyard, and it will be timed entry. More details to follow through the OMAH social media before the event.
Come out and safely enjoy art on the street and in the galleries to the accompaniment of instrumental music from Ian Chaplin. Restaurants will have expanded patios throughout downtown and many downtown stores will be open for your safely-distanced shopping pleasure during the Friday night street closures.
Hot off the presses, the Orillia Youth Centre is presenting its annual fall music fundraiser, Roots North Revisited, on Sept. 26. Due to COVID-19, this year’s show will be presented as a drive-in live concert at the Sunset Drive-In on Line 4 in Oro-Medonte.
Musicians have not been announced yet, however you can grab a ticket or a (four-person) carload ticket here. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go towards the Orillia Youth Centre. More details to follow but save the date or even better, grab your tickets today.
Cathy Boyd’s show, Passions, goes up in the ‘Street Gallery’ window exhibition at Creative Nomad Studios from July 8 to Aug. 4. According to the website: “Cathy Boyd is largely self-taught, with some formal education in the arts. Along the way she has created a diverse body of works, some realistic, some impressionistic. She treats each new painting as an opportunity to try something different. Located in Midland, her work has been shown in New York City, the British Virgin Islands and of course, throughout Ontario. Her paintings have sold internationally. Cathy is a juried member of both the Ontario Society of Arts and the Society of Canadian Artists.”
Cathy’s work is for sale online through the Creative Nomad Studios website, here.
An exciting opportunity to create a piece of public art is happening now through the City of Orillia. The city is looking for a sculptural piece for its new butterfly garden in Tudhope Park and is asking interested artists to submit a proposal. There is a $5,000 budget for the project and the deadline for proposals is July 17 at 4 p.m. Lots more deets are available here.
If you’re like me, you really missed the Mariposa Folk Festival last weekend. The iconic event of the summer was sadly cancelled due to COVID-19 but lucky for us, the folks at Mariposa, in collaboration with some awesome musicians, have put together an online virtual festival which has all the Mariposa vibes we know and love.
Featuring Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and This Way North, the show also has a Mariposa workshop with The Small Glories, OKAN, and Mimi O'Bonsawin, with Treasa Levasseur as the host. You can check out the virtual festival here.
Speaking of Mariposa, the 60th anniversary compilation CD is available, despite the 60th anniversary being delayed to (hopefully) 2021. You can contact the Mariposa office by telephone at 705-326-3655 to order yours today. Office hours are Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
And speaking of iconic summer events in our area, Starry Night, the annual art gallery open house, is cancelled this year due to the pandemic. Another sad cultural hole in our community this summer. Hopefully, we will see it again in 2021.
The Orillia Public Library is going ahead with its TD Summer Reading Program despite COVID-19, with some changes. Youth up to 18 years of age can participate by showing up at the library entrance off the parking lot next to the Orillia Opera House, anytime Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., until the program ends in mid-August. You can let the staff there know what you have been reading, and receive a grab and go bag with a book, and a weekly prize.
You can also participate by emailing or calling the library and letting staff know what you are reading that way. For more information head to the library website here.
Humdinger Bike Tours Far Out Fridays Art Romp bike tour is this Friday at 5:30 p.m. To register and get all the information, head here.
The Essential Concert Series this week features Michael Martyn, and yes folks it is his birthday! So please make a donation to the OSMH Foundation in honour of Mikey’s birthday and help him celebrate his special day. The show gets underway Thursday July 9 at 8 p.m. and you can head here to watch it.
Lots of events this week, so enjoy and remember as of Monday July 13, masks are mandatory in indoor public spaces and transit in our area, so don’t forget to pick yours up before then so you can help keep everyone safe.
Take care, and send your arts news to [email protected] by Tuesday at noon to be included.
