OkcPets Magazine November 2021

November/December 2021 • OKC Pets 37 Paseo Arts Festival Story and photos by Michael Bell T his past Labor Day weekend, the streets of the Paseo Arts District vibrantly came to life with visitors from all over descending upon the two blocks of curved streets sporting stuccoed Spanish architecture and clay-tiled roofs. The weather was perfect, although a little warmer than some would have preferred, with the sun smiling down with its inviting glow. The air was filled with wafting scents of fair-style foods from more than 20 food vendors and drifting beats of more than 50 live musicians and performers on two stages, heralding the arrival of the 45th Annual Paseo Arts Festival. The festival is usually held on Memorial Day weekend but was rescheduled due to COVID-19. However, the move did not hurt the attendance any, as it was an inviting time for all, including television personalities and a list of Who’s Who of Oklahoma City’s more well-known and popular people. The four-day weekend seemed like a perfect opportunity for the district to show- case why it has historically been identified as one of Oklahoma City’s premier artist areas. This district houses more than 20 studios and approximately 80 working artists. The Paseo Arts Festival brought in nearly 100 other nationally acclaimed artists from all over the country, filling the streets of this premier artist district with paintings, ceram- ics and pottery, hand-blown glass, photogra- phy, woodworking and jewelry. Unlike other art festivals, the Paseo Arts Festival sports a warm and inviting feel to any would-be art seeker or the person just tired of COVID and wanting to get out for a while. In the 2020 Oklahoma Gazette’s Best of OKC, the festival was voted as the Best Free Entertainment. The entire setup just says come out and enjoy yourself, and what is more amazing, is you can bring your fur babies along too. Yep, that’s right, Fido gets to enjoy the festival too. The festival generously provides drinking bowls for the pups and several of the local businesses had them out also, but what amazed me and proved that this festi- val is truly dog-friendly is that many of the artists had water bowls set up at their tents. While exploring the Paseo Arts Festival, I took an opportunity to interview several artists. One, in particular, stood out to me because of the pet portraits that adorned her tent walls. Katherine Sanders is a local artist based out of Edmond who discovered as a child she has an affinity for animals and truly enjoys drawing them. Although having no formal art training herself, she acquired her degree in education, which gave her the enjoyment of helping children at Putnam City and Crossings Christian School to explore their creative side. Assisting these children is what helped her to develop her skills as a painter. She has painted murals at her church and other places around the community. She loves leading large groups to complete community projects and murals. She has even left her