SOUTH PORTLAND – Now in its 31st year, Art in the Park has become the must-attend summer art show in South Portland, one that attracts art lovers and artists alike again and again.

“We have had a substantial number of artists who return year after year. We have five who have been in since the first show and have a number who have been in for 20-plus years,” said Mary Kahl, chairwoman of the Art in the Park Committee. “But we always have artists joining us for the first time.”

“It is pretty fun and laid back experience,” she added. “I walk around and I hear both people and artists say it is their favorite show.”

While the work showcased at the free event, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 14, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Mill Creek Park, is typically fine art or photography, the artists give people plenty to look at and admire.

“The artists are creative. They work in a lot of different media,” Kahl said. “There is a lot of things the artists do with many themes represented.”

The show’s success year in and year out is largely due to its location and its family-friendly atmosphere, Kahl said.

“The park is beautiful. People like to come out to the park and walk around,” she said. “The size of the park is great. With 185 artists, there are plenty of artists for people to find something they like, yet it is not so many that it becomes overwhelming. People can still stroll around and enjoy themselves.”

“People bring their kids. People bring their dogs. It is something that people have associated with being a fun family art event,” she added.

To that end, the event offers hours of activities to keep children occupied as their parents stroll through the artist booths.

At the Kids in the Park Tent, near the Food Court on the corner of Ocean Street and Broadway, a number of arts and crafts activities will be offered from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., including making knapsacks, sand art, scratch art and Chinese folded paper lotus flowers, an activity lead by representatives from New England Falun Dofa.

The Kids in the Park offerings remain one of the more popular elements to the art event, Kahl said.

“We learned pretty early on that with Kids in the Park, it doesn’t matter how many supplies we have ordered, we always run out,” Kahl said. “It used to be from 11 to 1, but now it’s been expanded to 10 to 2. It’s hugely popular. It is a mob scene, but in a good way.”

Also for the kids, Julie & Brownie, award-winning children’s musicians, will be offering three musical shows, at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Art in the Park this year will have to work around renovations currently underway at Mill Creek Park, which is getting a new gazebo.

Kahl said the only impact the construction will have on the event is on the placement of some of the artists.

“It has impacted where we put the numbered stands for the artists,” she said. “The park changes a little bit every year. Trees grow. Trees get taken down. Benches get rearranged. With the gazebo moving we did have to guesstimate the space we had to work with.”

“We moved stands from right next to the duck pond to where the old gazebo used to be,” she added. “We notified the artists in advance so they are not surprised when they get there the day of the event.”

It’s fitting that the park is getting spruced up while the event is going on. Revenue beyond the costs of the event go back to improvements at Mill Creek Park. Past improvements have included, a contribution to the annual holiday lighting, $500 to Phase IV of the city’s Greenbelt Walkway, and $1,000 toward a plaque for Arvin Erskine Park.

In 2005, Art in the Park donated $250 to help artists affected by Hurricane Katrina. Four years later, in honor of its 30th anniversary in 2009, the group donated $3,000 to the South Portland Land Trust, to be used by the Friends of Mill Creek Park for the development and implementation of a master plan at the park.

Outside of giving seasoned artists the opportunity to showcase their artwork and providing a venue for high school artists’ work to be seen, Art in the Park also uses artwork by young artists on the promotional material.

Choosing the student art work to represent Art in the Park is always one of the best, if not hardest parts of the work leading up to the event. This year the poster art is from fifth-grader Kayla Brown, the t-shirt design is from first-grader Miranda Young and the event’s program cover includes artwork by eighth-grader Ceanna DePaolo.

“That is about our most fun meeting before the show,” Kahl said. “They are all just so creative. The hard part is just picking three of them because there are so many that we love.”

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