ArtStroll hits downtown

The Second Friday ArtStroll/Still Strolling Saturday in downtown Thermopolis takes place Friday, June 14 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Still Strolling Saturday on June 15 will have lots of activities also. 

Smoking Waters Art Guild, the host business, invites you to come stroll and support the artists, the shops, and the community. Eleven artists will be based at the Masonic Lodge, 521 Arapahoe Street, for the Wheelie Slow Draw which starts on Friday at 5 p.m. and culminates on Saturday at 6 p.m. There will be a live auction of the Slow Draw artwork on Saturday at 6 p.m. The artists will also have some additional works for sale. 

In addition, artists will be set up in the downtown stores on Friday night and strollers are encouraged to park their favorite set of wheels downtown as this weekend is also the Hot Spot Car Rally. 

There will be a microbus set up adjacent to Centennial Park/Pinnacle Bank on Fifth Street and strollers are invited to spray paint Deb and Rick Tudor’s fun vehicle.  

“Members of the Smoking Waters Art Guild have pulled together a great weekend of strolling and art activities for everyone”, according to Guild member Suzanne Samelson.  “Our historic downtown and the State Park will again have a festival feel to it with the Hot Spot Car Rally this week-end.”

Artists participating in this month’s Stroll include Marilyn Kohler, who returns downtown to show and sell her paintings. See a new selection of One More Spin records, too.

Debbie Stroppel will be downtown as well. Stroppel does beautiful photography of her European travels. She also has wonderful works of Wyoming subjects. Her husband, Phillip Stroppel, will also be showing some of his motorcycles on the sidewalk.

Keep an eye out for the quilts on display as well as a sidewalk sale all day on Friday and Saturday.

Stroll on the north side of Broadway and enjoy Shannon Myers’ art. Myers is from Nebraska and visiting Thermopolis for the summer. She will have a display of her watercolors.  She enjoys watercolors, pencil and other media. 

Around the corner, on Arapahoe Street, there will be lots going on at Blue Bison Gallery and the Masonic Lodge.  Blue Bison Gallery owner/artist Sallie Wesaw passed away in late May. Her wishes were to get her art out in the community and strollers are encouraged to stop by and pick out something to take home a piece of the rich art legacy left by Sallie. 

StillStrollingSaturday is a good time to revisit downtown Thermopolis. The Wheelie Slow Draw artists will continue to work on their art starting around 10 a.m. 

The Ted Spatol Memorial Poker Run kicks off the Hot Spot Car Rally around 10 a.m. on Saturday and includes a stop at the Masonic Lodge. 

The live auction of the Slow Draw artists’ paintings starts at 6 p.m. One-hundred percent of the sales will benefit Smoking Waters Art Guild and the promotion of the arts in our community. There will be a party with light refreshments and beverages following the auction. The Lander Country Swing Dancers will be performing. There will be a celebration of Sallie Wesaw’s life during the day at Blue Bison Gallery.

Stollers are encouraged to pick up a map at any Stroll business to find the location of artists.  Return the map to the host business, Smoking Waters Art Guild, at the Masonic Lodge, 521 Arapahoe Street, at the end of Friday evening’s Stroll to be entered to win a piece of art work donated by the artists.

The Second Friday ArtStroll/Still Strolling Saturday is organized by Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation and Smoking Waters Art Guild, with additional support from Main Street Thermopolis, Hot Springs Travel & Tourism and local businesses and individuals.