Photo gallery: A colorful CityArts festival livens the Arts District

by Sarah Blaskovich

Dallas CityArts 2009

There was a little something for everyone at the annual CityArts festival.

(Click photo to see entire gallery)

Prizes included a Saturn Sky giveaway.

DALLAS — This year's CityArts festival provided the usual array of local performances, cool artifacts for sale, and goodies for the mostly families who perused the three-day event. The unusually hot and humid weather made it a little painful in the afternoons, but CityArts was a great showcase of Dallas talent, as always. And Pegasus News photographer Jamie Walzel found an added bonus: He met some really nice people.

After he'd chatted and photographed a retired couple, he walked away, unknowingly leaving his keys behind. Bless those nice people who hunted for him for nearly an hour and returned the keys to their rightful owner. (He had things to do, after all.) We think the Patron Saint of Lost Things has something special in store for those people.

Each day of CityArts featured good bands and tasty bites. Event volunteers also gave tours of the arts district and invited wanderers into the Meyerson Symphony Center to listen to their monstrous organ, which has 4,535 pipes to be exact. And, there was even a Pegasus stage where performers such as the Dallas Storytellers Guild and The South Dallas Concert Choir performed. The stage wasn't named after us, though. We can pretend.

Check out our photo gallery to see the colorful performances and cute kiddos we caught on camera.

Staff
Verified User
Anonymous

Ya got Daryoush Ababaf for the feature image! Great stuff. He and his family are such nice folks...and his artwork speaks for itself.

Travis Bush Verified

5 months, 1 week ago
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love the art cars....

Tracy Yost Verified

5 months, 1 week ago
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Very warm again this year,but,enjoyed all three days. The rumor among the vendors is that Cityarts will move to Fair Park next.They,the city,will vote sometime within the next two weeks.If you have an opinion then send Angela Hunt or Tom Leppert an email soon.

geoh57 Anonymous

5 months, 1 week ago
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I went, it was great! And some of the artists are VERY talented here in Dallas.

Russ Vandeveerdonk Verified

5 months, 1 week ago
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I Fond the event quite amusing and getting a little stale around the Canvas...while this is a center stage for the next 20 years.....folks had a good time with what money they could break out for the old piggey bank...A/T, Stopped by on my way to the Majestic...

alexander troup Verified

5 months, 1 week ago
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Unusually hot and humid? City Arts is like that every year.

I know there are a lot of other fests to compete with, but they really need to move this thing to April.

swag Anonymous

5 months, 1 week ago
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Good point, swag. And yes -- it'd be just as wonderful and much more bearable in the springtime!

Sarah Blaskovich Staff

5 months, 1 week ago
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That "Funky Bus" is actually called the "California Fantasy Van". It was created by a vacuum cleaner repairman in Burbank over the course of 22 years, by riveting thousands of coins and brass items to a GMC van. It's one of the most spectacular art cars on the road, and it's on a nationwide tour to promote the new documentary film "Automorphosis", about art car creators and how their creations have affected their lives. And if you thought it looked amazing sitting still at the festival, you shoulda seen it driving up Central Expressway in the glorious golden sunset afterward!