There’s no place like Garland

The Garland Street Fair can grow on you.

Just ask Lou Carver. Four years ago, the art instructor was pressed into service as a volunteer. “I was teaching mosaic classes at the Tinman Gallery,” Carver said. “The fair needed some help with kids’ crafts, so I just stepped right in.” Now, she oversees the work of 80 arts-and-crafts volunteers.

“We all love it,” she said. “Most of the volunteers come back year after year.”

She said the reasons vary, but many enjoy the family-friendly atmosphere and the fun they have with children who attend.

Indeed, the Garland Street Fair, now in its sixth year, offers plenty of activities for kids – and lots for adults, too. Three stages will feature a total of 13 bands throughout the day, which will play everything from bluegrass to funk.

Meanwhile, kids will discover plenty to keep them busy. The crafty can design their own jewelry, and the active can shoot hoops or toss beanbags. Nearly every activity will reflect the fair’s theme, “The Wizard of Oz.”

This theme was so successful last year that planners decided to use it again. After all, said Bonnie Quinn, of the Quinn Agency in Garland, the district’s name often brings to mind Judy Garland and her most famous movie. Quinn pointed out that some local merchants, such as the Tinman Gallery and the Ruby Slipper, used Oz-inspired titles when naming their stores.

“Even the Garland Theater reminds us of the Emerald City,” she said, referring to the movie house’s majestic facade situated among smaller structures.

To promote the theme, Lou Carver encourages fairgoers to dress the part. “We want to see people walking around, looking like Dorothy or the Wicked Witch or any of the other Oz characters,” she said. Carver imagines dozens of Scarecrows, Cowardly Lions and Munchkins attending a special showing of “The Wizard of Oz” at the Garland Theater.

Last year thousands of people visited the Garland Street Fair. Most of them flocked to life-size canvas paintings of Oz characters such as Glinda, the Good Witch. Each canvas had a hole cut out for the face, allowing participants to be photographed as if in full costume.

“The public just went wild over these,” Carver said. “They were a big moneymaker for the fair.”

She credited mother-daughter artists Robin and Hannah Nelson-Wicks.

“Hannah got the idea from the Butterfly Garden in Seattle,” said her mother, explaining that visitors can pose behind huge butterfly paintings. The 15-year-old Lewis and Clark High School sophomore draws outlines for the Oz figures, and her mother fills in with colors. The process takes “hours and hours,” said Robin Nelson-Wicks. This year, the artistic duo have added more canvas characters, including a lion and a monkey.

Musically minded fairgoers can participate in an a capella competition at 5:30 p.m. The person who sings “Somewhere over the Rainbow” and sounds most like Judy Garland will win dinner at Catacombs and a night at the Montvale Hotel.

Other competitions involve Oz character look-alikes. Even the family dog can join the fun in a Toto contest.

Overall, the Garland Street Fair’s purpose is to promote the district as a destination for shopping and entertainment. But the fair does more than that, according to Susan L. Davis, owner of Destiny Floral and Gifts.

“Yes, we work hard to make profits,” she said, “but most of the fair’s income will be donated to a local charity.” Last year, the Garland merchant association chose the Spokane Guilds’ School to receive the donation. The association will decide on this year’s recipient at the conclusion of the fair.

Another goal of the event is to highlight the residents and what’s good about the area“It’s a neighborhood feel for locals and others who come and shop,” Quinn said. “The fair earmarks who Garland people are and who we want to be.”