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30 Jun 2010
Custom show cars, Kentucky arts and crafts come together June 25 at The Center for Rural Development for largest Friday Night Block Party of 2010 Somernites Cruise season
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Two of America’s top pastimes—custom show cars and hand-crafted arts and crafts—were on full display June 25 at The Center for Rural Development during the largest Friday Night Block Party thus far of the 2010 Somernites Cruise season.
The south parking lot and grounds of The Center were so packed with bumper-to-bumper Somernites Cruise custom show cars and trucks that volunteers working the gate had to ask drivers to circle the block until more parking spaces became available.
“We counted 315 show vehicles,” Walmart assistant manager Shannon Woodall said following the event. “It was the largest Friday Night Block Party so far this year.”
He noted one driver traveled from Georgia simply because he had heard about the Somernites Cruise car show—held on the fourth weekend of each month from April through October in downtown Somerset—and wanted to check out the event.
The Friday Night Block Party—hosted by The Center and Somerset Walmart—is held on the eve of the free custom car show for locals and visitors to come out and greet the drivers and get a closer look at their high-performance vehicles.
This month’s featured cars were the sleek Chevrolet Camaro and ever-popular Pontiac Firebird.
Additionally, some of the region’s top artists and crafters exhibited one-of-a-kind collections of their own inside The Center’s spacious exhibit hall at the fourth-annual Kentucky Appalachian Craft Fair.
The exhibit opened at the same time as the Friday Night Block Party and continued through Sunday, June 27.
Forty-one exhibitors from eight regional craft organizations, which comprise the Kentucky Appalachian Craft Council, showed off unique, one-of-a-kind arts and crafts created by their skillful hands at the weekend’s event, which carried the theme “From Our Hands to Yours.”
Many exhibitors held onsite demonstrations at various times during the craft fair, giving visitors a chance to see how they create their products, all of which were available for sale to the public.
The craft fair was presented by TOUR Southern and Eastern Kentucky (TOUR SEKY) in partnership with the Kentucky Appalachian Craft Council. Other sponsors included Kentucky Unbridled Spirit, Somerset-Pulaski County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED), and Pulaski County government.
The Center for Rural Development, located in Somerset, Ky., provides economic and community development programs to residents in a 42-county service area of Southern and Eastern Kentucky, and is home to several statewide and national technology-based programs. For more information on programs available through The Center, visit www.centertech.com.
Photo Caption 1: The latest Friday Night Block Party, held June 25, broke the first attendance record of the 2010 Somernites Cruise season with 315 custom show cars and trucks on the grounds of The Center for Rural Development. Some drivers had to circle the block before they found a place to park at The Center, located at 2292 South U.S. 27 (at Traffic Light No. 15) in Somerset. The Friday Night Block is hosted by The Center and Somerset Walmart and held on the eve of the Somernites Cruise custom car show.
Photo Caption 2: A large audience braved the heat and humidity to come out and hear country music artist Jimmy Forbis perform at the latest Friday Night Block Party held June 25 on the grounds of The Center for Rural Development in Somerset. The June Block Party, hosted by The Center and Somerset Walmart, broke the season’s record for the largest number of cars and trucks in attendance thus far for the 2010 season. Friday Night Block Party volunteers counted 315 custom show vehicles from their position at the front gate.
Photo Caption 3: Lampwork bead artist Toni Menk of Liberty, a member of the Sheltowee Artisians, demonstrates the art of bead making as she crafts a small bead in the shape of a turtle during the fourth-annual Kentucky Appalachian Craft Fair. The craft fair, held June 25-27 at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset, drew 41 exhibitors from eight regional craft organizations. The event was presented by TOUR Southern and Eastern Kentucky (TOUR SEKY) in partnership with the Kentucky Appalachian Craft Council.
Photo Caption 4: In a craft demonstration, artist Lewis Newman paints a rooster on a gourd at the David Appalachian Craft booth at the fourth-annual Kentucky Appalachian Craft Fair. The craft fair, presented by TOUR Southern and Eastern Kentucky (TOUR SEKY) in partnership with the Kentucky Appalachian Craft Council, was held June 25-27 at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset and attracted 41 exhibitors from eight regional craft organizations. |
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