Ogden Arts

Somehow the Ogden Arts Festival (in its 5th year) has evaded my radar in the past. This year, Photoguy was asked to judge the high school art competition, so I had all the details.

Friday night, Photoguy and I took a sneak peek at the art in Union Station. We attended a delicious dinner (spicy pasta, seasoned chicken breasts and Greek desserts from a sampling of fabulous 25th Street eateries). And, enjoyed some short films from the Foursite Film Festival (a new and, at present, inferior version of Sundance aimed at college students who want to produce films). Our tickets were comped since Photoguy judged, but, can you believe they would have only cost $10 each? For dinner and a movie!

Saturday, we loaded up the kids and headed back to 25th Street. I have to say, I was very impressed with the spread of interesting art on display, the live music playing on multiple stages, the food (we snagged some delicious caramel and kettle corn), and the creative activities for the kids.

First, they got to use all kinds of mediums (paint, colored pencils, watercolor crayons, glitter glue, buttons and ric-rac to name a few) to decorate paper horses. Next, they made adorable frogs from recycled materials. At another booth, they used spray bottles of watercolors to design very cool Chinese fans. They created their own pin on buttons and at another station they carved pictures into Styrofoam blocks, brushed them with paint, and stamped the images onto paper. It was quite the day of creative fun for my little budding artists and a great time for all. Photoguy enjoyed perusing the photography exhibits and playing with the munchkins and I enjoyed the atmosphere and watching the kids having so much fun.

Later that evening, we headed down to the Bountiful Rec Center to meet extended family for a swim. It is an amazing facility (formerly the Bountiful Bubble, now, new, improved and minus "the bubble"). Photoguy had to leave us to work a late shift at the Des News. Before leaving Ogden, we dropped the van off at the Ogden Frontrunner station, then, after swimming and pizza, Photoguy's brother dropped the kids and me off at the Woods Cross station. The kids were amazed (and I was surprised too) when we boarded the train and saw a picture of me on a Lagoon advertisement. It's been a real hoot when the kids have seen these around town. We had a fun adventure riding the train home.

I don't know why I feel such a sense of pride and excitement about the Frontrunner coming to Ogden. I noticed a blurb in the Arts Festival Guide that talked about Ogden being the connection site for five major railroads between Sacramento, Omaha and all major settlements in the west for about 100 years. I've heard stories about the bustling metropolis we once were. On one of the first days the trains ran, Soph had a piano recital. We went to dinner at Union Station afterwards, and then went outside to get an up-close look. As we stood in the breeze and shadow of that double-decker red-white-and-blue train, I felt a bit misty eyed and thought, "The train has come back to Ogden."