The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Art in Waterloo Park 10 + WATERLOOQ CHRONICLE * Wednesday, August 8, 2007 il LeConte thinks of Waterloo P:I’ark as an empty canvas to be filled with colourful displays from visual artists and performâ€" ance artists at the second annual Waterloo Arts Festival. "My dream is to have artists line the trail through the entire park," said LeConte. "People could just take the day and walk through the park and see art and take in a perâ€" formance that pops up, the potenâ€" tial is endless." It wasn‘t always that way. In fact the park has been mostly empty the last few Augusts after the Sounds of Summer music festival quietly faded away and nothing filled the hole it left in the local arts scene Waterloo Arts Festival a hit that hopes to keep on expanding The silence was especially deafâ€" ening for people like LeConte who grew up in the area and rememâ€" bered spending their formative years attending the threeâ€"day music festival. It brought the comâ€" munity alive during the summer doldrums, and demonstrated how Reid Belstock, from Denver, Colo., is one of the festival‘s international acts By Bos VRBANAC Chronicle Staff â€" Waterloo Park West could be a jewel for the local arts community. "This was the place to come in the summer," said LeConte. "It‘s a beautiful space and it doesn‘t get utilized as much as it should because all of the big events hapâ€" pen in the uptown. _ "This peirk was just dying for another festival." It was a shame to let the outdoor bandshell and the surrounding park stay dormant during the sumâ€" mer. That‘s when LeConte and his partner in the performance troupe the Silly People, Colin Marks, hatched their plan to start the Waterloo Arts Festival. "We had been variety performâ€" ers since 1993 and had performed at pretty much every event in town," said LeConte. "That‘s when we came up with idea for our own event. "It gave us the chance to show that we could do something differâ€" ent." And they were right. The inauâ€" gural Waterloo Arts Festival pulled in more than 3,500 people, impressed by the variety and qualiâ€" ARTS FOCUS ty of displays. "There are only two things you stress about," said LeConte, "what‘s the weather like and how many people are going to show up. "Those are two things you can‘t control." But those initial numbers even surprised him. He obviously tapped into something missing in the comâ€" munity, and they responded in kind. The 18 months of work they put into the first festival paid off, espeâ€" cially in the enthusiastic response they got from the public for the interactive displays the festival feaâ€" tured, including a human fountain. The other one people are still talking about is an artâ€"car project where the public was invited to paint to strategically placed cars in the park. That creative display went over so well that they ran out of paint after the first day. A local mother actually went home and brought back 10 more gallons of paint so her son could add a few more brush strokes . "It was a freeâ€"forâ€"all," said LeConte. "We didn‘t know if people were going to do it, but we ran out of paint last year." The other thing that was a hit was the performance artists that LeConte and Marks had met in their travels in other buskers and arts festivals across Canada and the world. They called in a few favours to get some of their favourite acts to come to Waterloo. That won‘t be a problem this year as the initial festival was such a success they had no problems in convincing more people to come and will have 51 performers at this year‘s festival. That includes interâ€" national acts like Reid Belstock, a slapstick juggler from Denver, Colo., Martin Ewen, playing Lurk the unhappy clown from Christchurch, New Zealand, the Yoâ€" Yo People, who do amazing things with this childhood toy, and Martin Varallo, from London, England, whose simple act is a crowd pleasâ€" er. Other acts include Daniel Forâ€" lano, a surrealist working with peoâ€" ple as a canvas, Circus Montreal, Tomko Lamb, a thirdâ€"generation dulcimer player, and Wheel in Motion as Dominique Major brings her German wheel all the way from Montreal, Que. The visual artists will also be out in force. Artâ€"inâ€"theâ€"park projects (v, 2 year 40,000 km comprehensive limited warranty 2 year unlimited mileag Roadside Assistance Low Finance Rates by Volkswagen Finance O.A.C. (For details check www ewaterloo.com) Volkswagen Waterlioo The Yoâ€"Â¥o People offer an interactive experience with the popular chilâ€" dren‘s toy. suemimtep roros have been popular for ages, and other festivals might be con this one is no exception, said _ strained by their physical dimen LeConte. sions. s "These are things that some people might never go do or never go see," he said. "We‘re trying to say you don‘t have to go to a movie or play a video game. There are options out there." Waterloo‘s growing reputation as a highâ€"tech community should also tie in nicely to what the Waterloo Arts Festival is trying to accomâ€" plish. The No. 1 thing that know!lâ€" edge workers say attract them to an area is the cultural opportunities, and LeConte said the festival is tryâ€" ing to increase the local arts comâ€" munity‘s accessibility to the public. "People don‘t know they like it until they see it," said LeConte. "If you come, there will be something for everyone. "We give them something to do, and let them know that art can fall into many different categories." _ _ LeConte is already thinking of expanding the festival. He said the 111â€"acre park will always leave room for expansion where some 550 Weber St. North, Waterlco (519) 884â€"7470 info@vwwaterloo.com * Here‘s why: "Last year we didn‘t use half the space we could have," said LeConâ€" te. "I think the park maxes out at 12,000 people, so if we could get 12,000 people in this park it would be a great day. "And the longâ€"term plan is to expand into the east side of the park and use some of the fields and little shelters spread around the park. Just have small spaces and intimate performances, this park is so wide open you can essentially set it up anyway." The Waterloo Arts Festival gets started with a gala and silent aucâ€" tion Friday night at the Waterloo Inn. The festival then starts in full swing Aug. 11 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Waterloo Park, and repeats those performances Aug. 12 from 11 am. to 6 p.m. Proceeds from the festival also go to support Epilepsy Waterloo Wellington. _ â€" For more information visit www.waterlooartsfestival.com.