To the Editor:

I had to laugh when I read the article titled “Thompson Festival of the Arts & Community Arts Show strike successful partnership (June 9).” I was one of the show and sale participants at the event and was surprised to hear about “the good turnout.”

Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate all the work done by Jan Hall to organize the event and all the student and adult artists who displayed their work. I have to say unfortunately, that in my opinion, the show and sale was far from a success.  

While I did not man my table for much of Sunday, the days I was there I counted less than a few dozen people at the event. Most of those attending were artists or parents of artists themselves. Also missing from the event were many of Thompson’s artists, who elected not to display any of their art.

In fact, it would seem that a representative of the Citizen itself did not attend either as the article suggests the event took place in the Gordon Beard Arena. In fact, if staff at the Citizen were to have attended they would have found the event elsewhere.  I applaud the city’s attempt to increase visibility for arts groups and artists in the city, but this year’s event was a failure in terms of attendance and artist representation.

Jeff Fountain
Thompson