Fish Tales at River Festival

Dan Welty uses old license plates and a few well placed auto parts to fashion fish for your den or man cave.

The artist from Wichita said about twenty years ago a hood ornament inspired him. “It looked like the top fin of a fish but I couldn’t find a good piece of wood to go with it,” he said.

Noticing some old license plates hanging in the corner of his shop began the journey of mixing tags, chrome and tail lights to create the perfect fish. Catch the fish you like and chat with Dan at booth on the west side at W51.

 

Artist Roger Mathews fuses colored glass and steel to forge sturdy stained glass sculptures that can stand up to Kansas weather and help frame an exterior space at your home in a new way.

The Wichitan says an accident a number of years ago nearly robbed him of the use of his hands. Now he celebrates life by stacking glass and turning up the heat. “Imagine a giant pizza,” he said. “They’re multiple layers and I put them on a big kiln shelf and bake that at 1,440-degrees.” You can see these light catching sculptures in the Art Show at booth W48.

The Smoky Hill River Festival continues through Sunday afternoon with a cornucopia of musical and roving artists throughout Oakdale Park. The Festival’s encore musical performance on the Eric Stein Stage is Joe’s Pet Project at 3:30pm.

“Bubble Man,” Steve Treder from San Francisco spreads fun and bubbles around the Festival with his specially formulated bubbles that can encapsulate an entire person.

 

The Smoky Hill River Festival wraps up Sunday at 4pm.