By Nora Seda

It’s that time of year again! It is time for the students to show their talents through art. The Fine Arts Festival was held on Thursday, March 19, 2009, from 6:30 to 9:00 at North Tama High School. The festival is an exciting time for all students at North Tama. It gives young students a chance to exhibit their art and explore their talents.

Each year an artist is featured at the festival and this year’s artist was Dennis Dake. Mr. Dake taught art at the high school, college, and university level for 41 years. He taught in the Department of Art and Design at Iowa State University for 36 years. The art he exhibited at the festival included abstract paintings of nature created with an airbrush technique.

“This Fine Arts Festival was one of our best. The new activities were fun and so was bringing the fish catching and sand art back,” said art teacher Mrs. Janelle Betts.

There were many activities to do at the festival. There were games such as Plinko, hockey, Guitar Hero, and a cakewalk. The junior class raffled an entertainment center to raise money for prom. The students involved in art club were busy painting different designs on people’s faces.

The High School Student Council was selling ice cream sundaes and pizza. Spanish Club sold cotton candy and the Publication class sold puppy chow. There were also opportunities for students to explore their creativity by making sand art and sandy candy. The Junior High Student Council sold roses to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. The annual bridge breaking came at the end of the night.

Besides games and activities there were also different people performing on stage in the main gym.

“My favorite part of the festival was watching the people perform on stage because it was entertaining,” said 7th grader Brandon Kaufman.

The Fine Arts Festival is an opportunity for young students to get a first hand chance at what its like to perform on stage in front of a crowd of people. This year band teacher, Ms. Kayla Carlson, tried something new with her 5th and 6th grade bands. She had them play songs as a whole group, and then she had small groups play. This gave the students a chance to experience what it’s like to perform in a duet or small group in front of a large crowd of people.

The Fine Arts Festival is an annual event that is fun for everyone and creates new experiences for students.