A festival that began with a small group in a park gazebo has grown into a yearly celebration of local art, music and participation in Lufkin. Art in the Park marked its 10th anniversary at Jones Park on Saturday, Oct. 10, bringing neighbors together for a free gathering of creative activities. This year’s listing invited visitors to make art, listen to music and take part in activities; it described the free event as open to all.
Neighborhood STRONG, the local nonprofit that presents the event, listed it from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and invited visitors to enjoy local artists, live music, demonstrations, creative stations and activities for children and adults. The936’s preview, published Oct. 6, also noted a planned recognition for people who helped establish the nonprofit and festival in 2016, along with birthday cupcakes for the anniversary.
The event grew out of Neighborhood STRONG’s work in north Lufkin. The936 reported that the nonprofit began after founders Wayne Lawrence and Kenneth Campbell encountered families whose homes needed urgent repairs. Their first effort helped a family whose roof had been damaged by a fallen tree; another household needed similar help before that first repair was complete. The founders saw a wider need and organized to help older, disabled and low-income homeowners.
Art became part of that neighborhood work, too. In KTRE’s report after Saturday’s gathering, cofounder Wayne Lawrence said the first home-repair project was near Jones Park and that the founders wanted art integrated into the organization’s wider work. The936 reported that Art in the Park was created to bring creative opportunities to families in north Lufkin. The festival’s anniversary connected that original local purpose to a public event that now stretches across the park.
KTRE traced the festival’s growth through musician Tommy Simpson, who remembered playing at the first gathering, when about 15 people met in a small picnic area. Simpson told the station he has performed every year since. The event has since expanded from the gazebo across the park, and he said several bands were set to showcase themselves, including emerging artists from the community. His account offers a view of the festival not only as an annual celebration, but as a recurring place for local musicians to perform.
The event also keeps participation at its center. Cofounder Cheryl Campbell told KTRE that it was intended to bring together people who might not otherwise get a chance to create, take part and feel valued in their community. Neighborhood STRONG’s listing described creative stations and activities for adults as well as children, while The936 preview named arts and crafts, face painting, a children’s workshop, music and other family activities. Those details suggest a broad invitation: visitors could come as audience members or join in making something.
Before the festival, The936 reported that organizers planned an 11 a.m. recognition for people who helped start Neighborhood STRONG and Art in the Park, along with birthday cupcakes for attendees. That preview gives the anniversary a human frame: it was intended to acknowledge people behind a project that connected home-repair work with shared creative activity. KTRE’s follow-up does not confirm whether the recognition or cupcakes took place, so this account treats them as plans announced beforehand.
The anniversary belongs to both the festival and the nonprofit behind it. The936 reported that Neighborhood STRONG had expanded from its original focus in Lufkin to work across a nine-county East Texas region. KTRE said Lawrence estimated the nonprofit had repaired close to 300 homes, with the total exceeding 500 when special repairs and other projects are included. Those figures are the organization’s reported totals, not an independently audited measure, but they show how the repair mission has continued alongside the arts gathering.
A decade after the first small gathering, Art in the Park offers a recurring stage for local artists and musicians while inviting families to take part in creative activities. The public sources reviewed do not give an attendance count for this year’s event, so its scale should not be measured by an assumed crowd size. Its documented history is more specific: a nonprofit formed around home-repair needs added art to its community work, and a gazebo gathering developed into a free, park-wide annual event.
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