Arts

Is there anything better than listening to good music with a slight breeze ruffling your hair and a plate of food in your lap to get you in the mood for summer?

Sound like a plan?

It could be if you attend the kickoff this weekend of the 2012 Street Party Concert Series in downtown Shelbyville. And to add to the image, organizers say food prices will be very reasonable, and the concerts are absolutely free.

Angie Walters, a new Shelbyville resident, is also a new artist at the Gallery at Shelby Artists on Main, and she is having a special event to share her work with the public.
By visiting the gallery at 617 Main St., you can enter a drawing to win an 8 by 10 print of her piece called Royal.
Originally from Elkhart, Ind., Walters said in announcing the drawing that she has had a lifelong interest in art and design that began when, as a child, she traveled with her mother, who made her living as a folk artist.  

Tracy Coffee Gayle says she has always loved to write and listen to stories.

"When I was little, I wanted to be John Boy Walton because he got to write," she said. "I've always loved to write and listen to my parents’ stories and my grandparents’ stories."

About 10 years ago Gayle, a fifth-grade teacher at Wright Elementary School, started working on a short story about a young girl named Vera, and, along with Gayle’s own family, Vera has grown.

“It seems like only yesterday when she graduated from [Shelby County] high school, and now she’s living in Hollywood, within walking distance of the Walk of Fame.”

Those are the words of Eve Lawson Lewis, the mother of Ruby Lewis, a member of the Class of 2003 who just finished up a national tour of the Broadway musical Greaselast year and has moved on from musical theater to television.