By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

On Friday, downtown Hays once again will be bustling with activity as the Hays Arts Council presents the Summer Gallery Walk beginning at 6:30 p.m. throughout the city.

The event will showcase a variety of media and styles as artists from the area and beyond present work throughout the city, with all but one exhibit being accessible for free to the general public.

Interactive map of the Summer Gallery Walk events

“For anyone who may still not have participated in an Art Walk, it is basically like a wonderful little art buffet the night we have any art walk,” said Brenda Meder, director of the Hays Arts Council.

One of the draws of the event is the lack of structure, which allows people to move freely through the exhibitions.

“There are no fees anywhere, there’s no rules, it’s not like a tour where you start here and traverse across a set path,” Meder said. “You go wherever you want, stay for however long you want, visiting in whatever order you want.”

The summer Art Walk is the newest of the three annual walks, but has been growing through the last few years, she added.

“We realized that other entities that said we’re going to be (having events) on that night too,” Meder said. And so the HAC worked to create the Summer walk, replacing the regular gallery opening at the HAC.

“The Summer Art Walks really have just blossomed in the more recent years. The summer walks are now much larger than the spring walks for instance, spring and fall were, 20 years ago.”

Brenda Meder

“I’ve likened it before, to folks, almost like an old fashioned ice cream social, whether you are going out for the ice cream or the social, you’ll get both — only we’ve got art instead of ice cream,” Meder said.

In addition to the regular exhibitions, this walk has partnered up with a local organization to bring something extra this year.

“I’m very proud to be including the event at Singers on our Art Walk list, even though there is a cover fee to get into Singers that night, which we normally don’t do on an art walk night. It is a benefit for CASA — Court Appointed Special Advocates — so its for the benefit of our children,” Meder said. “This is their big charity event fundraiser.”

Read more about the CASA fundraiser here.

The regular walk will run from 6:30 p.m. until 9 p.m., but with the CASA benefit and other later musical events, participants can plan a full evening with the walk.

“Your day can start at Sternberg catching the lobby display, and you can move all the way through the community, finishing up by supporting that benefit into the late hours on Friday night,” Meder said.

For more information visit the Hays Arts Council Website, or their Facebook page.