Auburn comes to life with ArtRageous

From strolling bunny accordion and fiddle players to stilt walkers and musical entertainment or a rousing game of croquet with "Wonderland's" Red King and Queen, last Saturday's ArtRageous Art Fair provided a little something for everyone.

From strolling bunny accordion and fiddle players to stilt walkers and musical entertainment or a rousing game of croquet with “Wonderland’s” Red King and Queen, last Saturday’s ArtRageous Art Fair provided a little something for everyone.

This year’s art fair, sponsored by the City of Auburn and conducted at Les Gove Park, provided members of the community a chance to not only try hands-on art projects with several of the region’s finest artists, but also offered an opportunity to participate in Theater Simple’s “Wonderland,” an interactive play based on the “Alice in Wonderland” books by Lewis Carroll.

Kicking off with a skit by the bunny horde, “Wonderland” pulled in participants, especially children, by giving them a chance to not only view Theater Simple’s vision of the Carroll books, but also get into the action, by playing hedgehogs or wickets in a game of croquet.

“I think it’s such a great event for people to be able to come and experience all different kinds of art,” said Maija McKnight, Auburn Arts coordinator and ArtRageous organizer. “The main comment I received all day was that it was such an opportunity to experience art at every turn with such a high caliber of artists. I also got a lot of comments about the entertainers, especially ‘Wonderland,’ which was very engaging and took the literary aspect and brought it to life for the kids.”

In addition to “Wonderland,” ArtRageous featured musical performances by several acts, and booths where local artists got a chance to spotlight their medium and allow others to participate in the making of pieces of art.

“We really look forward to growing this every year,” McKnight said.