Art-Beat returns to Center Street
Downtown Logan transformed into an art festival for its second-annual Center Street Art-Beat. The event supports the community of Cache Valley by allowing local artists and musicians to display their talent and by supporting a local nonprofit every year.
“We had this idea to bring together the community and art in the same place and have a hub where people can just come and be themselves,” said Kayla DeRito, one of the organizers of the event.
The event, held on Aug. 30, featured vendors from local businesses and artists, as well as a variety of local bands, including The Last Wild Buffalo. The event ran from 12–10 p.m. There were two stages for different bands to play at the same time and a ramp built the day of for a skateboarding competition.
As a show of support for the bands and vendors in attendance, the Art-Beat’s Instagram posted short descriptions about each of the bands, food vendors and artisan vendors, which helped shed light on those small businesses. A diverse range of patrons, from families to college students, attended the event.
Each year, the festival supports a different nonprofit organization. Last year, they supported a group called Recovery Cafe, which aims to support people recovering from addiction. This year, the Cache Valley for Hope Cancer Foundation was the main focus, a non-profit that emotionally and financially assists local residents in battling cancer.
“Cache Valley for Hope is truly an unsung hero of the valley, and we could not be happier to help them through Center Street Art-Beat,” DeRito said.
Alley on Center, an organization that hosts creative events for the community, put on the event. Caylee Funk, co-founder of the Alley, felt especially passionate about supporting the Hope Foundation this year because she has a personal connection to the organization. Funk is a cancer survivor herself and was helped by the foundation.
“They literally, just months ago, were helping me financially, emotionally and all the things,” Funk said.
Only five months ago, Funk was in chemotherapy and said this was a way she could give back to the foundation that helped her.
This year, there were a number of vendors who pledged a part of their proceeds to the foundation.
Mike Bodrero of Bodrero Framing and Design said they held an art competition earlier that day. The competition started at 7:30 a.m., so the artists had about three hours to complete their paintings. Each of the paintings were on display and for sale. All of the artists pledged at least a portion of the proceeds to the Hope Foundation, with some choosing to donate all. Mike said in the future, he wants to get more students involved and have a whole student category for the competition.
When asked what her plans are for the future of the event, Funk said, “I don’t know. We just really love the vibe of what we’ve got going on and really just want to do it again next year.”
Skater competes in a skate competition put on by Directive Boardshop during Center Street Art Beat presented by The Alley on Center on Aug. 30.