News - Featured Story

Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

Diverse talents thrive at Anderson Festival

Author, African artist among highlights of this year’s offering

OCEAN SPRINGS — Artists like Marty, Brenda and Jason Stokes have been making their way to the Peter Anderson Festival every year and they say the event gets better every year.

The Stokeses, artists from Navarre Beach, Fla., set up their Holley Hill Pottery booth at the newly renovated Depot parking lot this year with their new “Folk” carvings on pottery that capture life on the Gulf Coast.

“These pots bring to life cast netting for mullet, floundering, oystering, gill netting and surf-related scenes,” said Brenda Stokes.

“Coming to this festival every year is about a third of our yearly income. We do well here. Our limited editions of some of our pieces were shown for the first time at the festival this year.”

Breezes and thoughts of a hurricane in the Gulf on Sunday did not seem to affect the Stokeses or the thousands who came out for the last day of the 31st annual Peter Anderson Festival.

Organizers said they had to open an hour early on both days this year because of the lines of festivalgoers waiting at the gates.

Each year, the Peter Anderson Festival’s challenge is to bring something new to the event.

Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce officials said they went international this year with the inclusion of artist Lamin Dibba from Gambia, West Africa, who also won Best in Show for the festival.

Featured for the first time at the festival was author Hester Bass introducing her book, “The Secret World of Walter Anderson.” Also this year, a portion of the donations received at the entrances goes to research for Lou Gehrig’s disease, the illness that took Peter Anderson’s life.

But what really keeps the festival growing in popularity every year is the diverse creative talent.

“When I come here to the festival I shop for birthdays, Christmas and me,” said Kim Simms.

With nearly 400 art and food vendors the festival, city leaders and the Chamber of Commerce had been watching over the completion of the new Depot parking lot.

The Depot parking area was recently purchased by the city and the nearly $4 million Streetscape Project started with the renovations of the main area of the festival.

Construction on the west end was completed just in time for the festival. It features new landscaping, trees, electrical outlets, resurfacing and brick pavers. The CTA bus stop and lighting will be added in the next few weeks.

“The new Depot parking lot is wonderful. We had to move some vendors around a bit but we strive to improve the quality of this juried show and it continues to bring artists and craftsmen back as well as visitors,” said Margaret Miller, executive director for the Chamber of Commerce.

“The town of Ocean Springs, its retail, galleries, museums and restaurants are unique and a big part of our festival’s success is our beautiful, seaside town.”

Throughout the two-day event judges evaluated the booths to honor individual artists or crafters’ work with one of the annual awards, “Best of Show,” “Award of Excellence,” “Peter Anderson Legacy Award” and “Award for the Creative Arts.”