NEWS RELEASE

August 27, 2004

CARY TO HOLD 28th ANNUAL LAZY DAZE ARTS & CRAFTS FESTIVAL

CARY, NC--The 28th annual Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival will be held in downtown Cary on Saturday, August 28, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival has become one of the South's premier festivals.  Every year, on the last Saturday in August, an estimated 50,000 people travel to downtown Cary to enjoy the handiwork of the very best artists and craftsmen in the country. This year visitors will enjoy usual mix of great food, over 400 local and national artisans, the best of local entertainment.  Proceeds from Lazy Daze are contributed to local non-profit organizations that work to make Cary a better place to live. Since 1999, $120,000 has been returned back into the Cary community.

Six Jerry Miller Artist Awards will be presented to exhibitors during this year’s Lazy Daze Festival at 12:15 p.m. on the Cary Elementary Stage.  The recipients are deemed best in their arts category, and will receive an automatic invitation to next year’s festival.  The 2003 award recipients that will be at this year's festival include Irmaly Brackin, a painter from Boone, NC; Richard Jacobus, a furniture and metal sculptor from Douglasville, GA; Deborah Levine, a jeweler from Castle Hayne, NC; Glenn Gage, a potter from Morehead City, NC; Gail Greene, a fiber artist from Hillsborough, NC; and Kyle Carpenter, a potter from Asheville, NC.

Three stages of live entertainment add lots of excitement and fun to the festival with a variety of performances to suit any taste.  The Fidelity Stage, located at Fidelity Bank Plaza (corner of Chatham and Academy) features performances by the Debbie Elam Band and Kickin Grass.  The Cary Elementary Stage located directly in front of the school at Academy Street features performances by Jerry Chapman and His Evil Herbivores; Annie Sidley, and Charlie Chiklis and the Moonlighters Beach Band.  "Kid's World", on the corner of Park Street and Academy, is an interactive area providing a place for parents and their children to hang out and have a fun time--whatever the age!  Performers on the Kid’s World stage include Michael Creech, Story Telling with Donna Washington, and the Gabardine Linny & Mo Variety Show.

Two local artisans will demonstrate craft techniques.  Gamaliel Tejeda will be sculpting from wood with a chainsaw and an ax and Elia Bazzarri will be demonstrating traditional woodworking using 18^th century tools and techniques, turning local greenwood into chairs, tables, bowls and bucksaws. They will be working throughout the day in the demonstration area that is located beside the Academy Street Post Office in the Festival Rest Area and in a new area on Chatham Street called the Chatham Street Concessions Court.

In addition to the numerous artisans, Lazy Daze hosts nearly 50 non-profit groups from Cary and Wake County. Half of these groups will set up concession booths providing festival-goers with a variety of foods.  Other groups will distribute educational information about their group or offer opportunities to exchange donations for raffle tickets for fund-raising items.

There are five concession areas at the Lazy Daze Festival: the Cary Elementary Concessions Village at the corner of Academy Street and Kildaire Farm Road; Kid’s World at the corner of Academy and Park Streets; the Festival Rest Area located in the parking lot of the Academy Street Post Office; Ashworth’s Village with entrances from Academy and Chatham Streets and the Chatham Street Concessions Court on Chatham Street between the Kitchen & Bath Gallery and the adjacent building. Look for kettle corn, hot dogs, ice cream, sno-balls, baked goods, chicken sandwiches, kielbasa, vegetarian offerings, and much more!

Visitors to the festival are advised to take the FREE shuttle busses that leave from Cary Towne Center every 15 minutes.  The lower lot of the Sears store has been designated for parking for the festival.  The first shuttle departs at 8:30 a.m.; the last shuttle leaves Cary Elementary at 5:30 p.m. Directions to Cary Towne Center are located on the Town's Web site.

For more information, please see the Lazy Daze Event information linked from the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Events webpage located on www.townofcary.org or call 919-469-4061.

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