Bailey Burk, a senior at Bowling Green High School, still has the
origami flower she made with her dad at the Black Swamp Arts Festival
when she was a kid.
She and her family have been coming to the festival and the Youth Arts
area, even before they moved to Bowling Green 11 years ago.
Burk and fellow BGHS Senior Studio student Maren Legg are among those who return to the festival each
year as volunteers.
“As a volunteer, it is nice to hear, ‘Oh, that was so much fun,’” Legg
said. “I get to provide this experience for another child.”
Burk said seeing the kids interact with their parents and grandparents at the Youth Arts area is
rewarding.
Both the students hope to help out with the tie-dye station this year, an activity Burk remembers fondly
from her childhood.
“The tie-dye was the best place because you would get your hands dirty
and it would stay on your hands the whole week,” Burk said.
Having dye on your hands was considered “cool” in grade school, she said.
This year, kids can dye plain T-shirts, shirts with a white-on-white
design, which shows up when the dye is applied, and pillowcases. They
can also bring their own items to dye.
“They (the kids) are just in awe of it,” Legg said.
“Art is not always exposed to kids, so it is nice to show them and to see them get really excited about
it,” Legg said.
In addition to tie-dye, a variety of activities will be offered at this year’s festival.
Swamp friends placemats, swamp puppets, which are paper bags decorated
to look like swamp creatures, sidewalk chalk, easel painting, face
painting, and a paper hat making station, are among the offerings.
The Music Discovery Zone is also back this year and will show attendees how to make an instrument out of
PVC pipe.
The goal of the zone is to “show kids how they can use common items to
make music and different sounds,” said Matt Reger, co-chair for the
Youth Arts area.
There will also be a collaborative art project for junior high and high school students.
This year’s project will utilize small pieces of wood that will be
painted and assembled together to create a large mural, Reger said.
One mural, Reger said, will portray a Black Swamp theme. It will be decorated with natural colors,
leaves, flowers and insects.
A second mural will focus on patterns, rhythm and bright colors for a music theme.
Reger said each participant will decorate a block of wood. Then, after the festival, the parts will be
organized and assembled.
Once the mural is put together, it will be on permanent display at a local business or community
building, he said.