Now in its 33rd Year, Plymouth's Art in the Park Still a Family Affair

Raychel Rork has worked on Plymouth’s ever since she “could lick a stamp,” Rork said.

The festival, which kicks off its 33rd year in downtown Plymouth on Friday, is run by a mother-daughter team consisting of Rork and her mother, Dianne Quinn. While in elementary school, Rork said, she helped her mother by licking stamps for envelopes. She now is president of Art in the Park.

“I feel very fortunate to have successfully stumbled into one of the greatest occupations, and that my daughter chose to work with me, making it our event," Quinn wrote on the event website.

By now, Rork said, she’s used to the exhaustive work that goes into making Art in the Park an annual destination, drawing about 300,000 visitors in downtown Plymouth over three days each year.

“It’s like getting married,” Rork said. “You spend the whole year planning. Only we get married every year.”

This year’s event, Rork said, aims to keep its place as one of Michigan’s largest art festivals, with more than 400 artists scheduled to display and sell works.

“There are lots of old favorites and great new people who have never done Art in the Park,” Rork said.

Returning from 2011 is the living mural, where an artist incorporates human models into a canvas, physically painting their bodies to match a work in progress. Also returning is the chalk mural. Both exhibits, Rork said, draw from impressionist artists, with the living mural reflecting Claude Monet’s “Water Lillies,” while the chalk mural will take inspiration from Edouard Manet’s  “Bar at the Folies-Bergere.”

The event will feature music by reggae artists One Love, who will perform throughout the weekend, giving Plymouth what Rork says is “a fun summer staycation feel.”

Other attractions this year include My Adventure Theater, a live interactive theater for children complete with costumes and props, and a staggering 65-foot grill owned by Johnsonville Sausage capable of cooking 2,500 brats per hour for patrons.

"I am proud of what this brings to Plymouth," Quinn wrote on the event website. "I take great pleasure in being able to bring a creative experience to all who attend, volunteer, and participate in the show."

Other attractions include:

• Mammoth Booth: A high-tech interactive photobooth at the corner of Main Street and Penniman Avenue. Photos will be available online free for download, sharing and tweeting the following day.
• George Tait’s Living Statue: An annual favorite, will confound passersby for minutes at a time while standing completely motionless before suddenly coming to life to read minds, challenge perception and stop time. Tait will put his acts on display from noon-4 p.m. Friday-Sunday.
• Children’s Mural: Children of all ages are invited to contribute to an interactive canvas mural, which then will be donated.

Art in the Park runs 11 a.m.-8 p.m. , 10 a.m.-7 p.m. and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. throughout downtown Plymouth surrounding . A free shuttle service will be provided from the ACH Plant (former Visteon Plant) at Sheldon Road and M-14. The shuttle will drop visitors off at .

Leave your dog at home

Rork said because of heat concerns and large crowds, patrons are urged to leave their pets at home unless it's just for a quick visit.

At last year's event, Huron Valley Ambulance officials the dangers and discomfort with bringing a dog to an event with hot temperatures and hot blacktop, as well as offering tips to patrons for beating the heat.