This is the second year for me hosting the Summer Art Jam at the Sunset Plaza on 48th and Fraser. I received plenty of great feedback and encouragement from the community last year, which prompted me to organize it again. With last year’s experience, I implemented 2 changes – first was to expand the scale of the event and get more supplies and snacks, and second was to cancel registration and open up the event to welcome more walk-in participants.
The Art Jam was scheduled for Saturday June 15th. Weather is always a challenge when it comes to outdoor events. A week leading up to the Art Jam, I had been monitoring the weather and was pretty sure it was going to rain on the event day. I didn’t want to reschedule the event as I already got the word out and people had told me they were looking forward to attending. With that in mind, I decided to prepare art packages that contain painting supplies and snacks, so that if it did rain, I could give out the packages to people passing by the Sunset Plaza and they could enjoy creating art at home.
On the morning of the event, I woke up to the sound of raindrops hitting my window – turned out it was hailing! I was a little frustrated as I watched the rain getting heavier every moment. I still planned to go to the Sunset Plaza with my art packages, but I was not hopeful that people would show up.
I arrived at the Plaza an hour before the event started, and thankfully the rain let up! The sky started to clear and sunlight shone through the heavy clouds. I was so encouraged! My husband and I started putting out table cloths on the picnic tables and laying out snacks and painting supplies. After that, we kicked off the event with my musician friend’s beautifully crafted playlist.
Residents were attracted by the music and stopped by to ask what was happening. When they learnt that the event was free for the community, they were surprised and overjoyed! They told their friends to come to the Plaza, meanwhile people who had seen the poster earlier showed up one by one. Soon the picnic tables were all taken up by children, adults, families, and seniors who were enjoying a lovely, sunny afternoon of painting and snacking. I bought primarily Chinese snacks that I loved when I was a child and some western ones to share. For some participants, it was their first time to try the Chinese snacks and they had fun with it! It was such a heartwarming and wonderful afternoon.
