Culture Days event in Brockville, Ont. part of national celebration of arts and culture

A nationwide festival of arts and culture began on Friday, with thousands of communities taking part, including downtown Brockville, where Culture Days returned for an in-person event this fall.

A part of King Street closed on Saturday, for people to celebrate local arts and culture in the region.

"It's a little bit of everything and I'm really happy to see its evolved; so as the city changes, so does Culture Days," said organizer Russ Disotell. 

"We have some of the ethnic community; so we've got the Indian community, Ukrainian refugees, Muslim community," Disotell continued. "We have potters, we have weavers, we have metal art, we have authors, we have a poet, a spontaneous poet who will make up a poem on the spot."

"If you walk down the street and your pulse doesn't raise, I'm pretty sure you're dead," he smiled. 

Brockville Culture Days Hub is in its seventh year and part of the nation-wide festival that runs over the next three weeks.

A metal sculpture by Chris Banfalvi on display at Culture Days in Brockville, Ont. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

While the event was postponed during the pandemic, there was a digital version held last year. 

The idea is to showcase local talent in the region that might be hidden, and get people interactive with the arts, like spontaneous poetry from published poet Lori Lorimer. 

"I ask them, 'What do you need a poem for today?', and then a conversation about maybe what they like, what they like me to write about, might be about their favourite pet or a love affair - it could be anything, a book they are writing, who knows," Lorimer said. 

"I give them a chance to think, I think, and I write the poem and then I give them the poem and that's what we do," she said. 

Poems she created today included topics like dragons, wolves and bicycling, with writing times usually taking 10-15 minutes.

"To have a day to celebrate the people in the area who are doing this, I think, is really wonderful," she noted. "I've watched people dancing; I've looked at some sculptures, metal sculptures, painting, so it's a wonderful event."

Across the street, it was a chance for author Sandra J. Jackson from Lansdowne to showcase her novels.

"A lot of people don't think of writing as an art form but it certainly is," she said. "It takes up a lot of time and a lot of hard work and it's a rewarding art form for sure."

A photographer takes pictures as a fire artist performs at Culture Days in Brockville. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

Jackson has been a published artist since 2015, and writes science fiction and suspense novels.

She is taking part in the River City Reading Series at Medium Effort on Saturday night. A free event where she will read a chapter from her latest book, Dancing in the Wind. 

"I'm still kind of new. I'm learning new things every book I write, everything I write I hope I'm improving on my writing so I'm having fun doing it," she said. 

Beside her, Simone Roddick was displaying her fluid art, taking up the hobby as a pandemic project.

"We were all stuck at home, I grabbed a cup, some acrylic paint and fell down the rabbit hole and the rest is kind of history," she smiled.

She says speaking with people about her passion makes all her hard work worth it.

"There's so many creatives in the world and I think a lot of passions got released in the pandemic and that's a wonderful side of effect of a horrible situation," Roddick said. 

"Being able to come out into the community and show the art in person has been really great," she added. "Support your local artists, support your creators, your makers and shop local."

Kids pop giant bubbles in downtown Brockville during Culture Days. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

Metalsmith Chris Banfalvi also glad to display his art in person once again.

"It's amazing. I really like having people more interact with it than anything else," he said. "Selling it is awesome, but it's more of people enjoying it and being part of it kind of thing."

Owner of Dark Genesis Corporation based out of Frankville, he uses many kinds of steel for his work. 

"It really needs to be part of the community in a national wide celebration of arts," he noted. "It's the double takes from people seeing that they missed something, and getting involved with the unexpected I guess is the big thing, it catches people off guard in a really positive way."

"People visiting are happy. People manning the booths and doing the activities are happy. That is it. That's what we're looking for," added Disotell.

"It's the people," he noted. "At the end of the day when you ask me, 'How was Culture Days? I go, 'It was.' And that is the important thing, that it happens."

Thousands of events for Culture Days are running across the country from Sept. 23 to Oct. 16, with a full list found on the website.