The entrance to the Reinbeck Memorial Building pictured Saturday, Sept. 19, during the 15th annual Reinbeck Art Festival. The festival was by and large moved indoors this year due to weather. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

REINBECK – As nearly two inches of rain fell here throughout the day last Saturday, Sept. 19 – leading to the swamping of the area’s already waterlogged agricultural fields, ditches and everywhere in-between – Reinbeck hosted the community’s 15th annual Art Festival.

In a bid to avoid the deluge, festival participants were tucked up all over town, including inside the Memorial Building, which housed many of the artists plus the musicians, who had planned to set up along Main Street.

The always popular UCC Quilt Show, located across from the Memorial Building, featured 51 spectacular quilts and quilting projects this year, all expertly arranged across pews inside the church nave. This year’s quilt show was organized by Karen Cheeseman and Deb Hach following longtime organizers Dianne Barker and Mary Lou Moser’s decision to step down. The program’s delightful cover featured a non-AI-generated coloring page the organizers themselves had colored by hand, complete with the phrase “Blessed are the quilters for they shall be called piece makers” – a clever take on one of the eight Beatitudes.

Around the corner from the church, City Hall hosted more artists, including Nancy Barsic and her hand-cut silhouettes. A retired Cedar Falls elementary art teacher, Barsic’s booth is always a magnet for children and adults alike.

City Hall also hosted a large display of projects by Gladbrook-Reinbeck secondary students – the highlight being a two-panel, painted tribute to the upcoming G-R High School Drama Department’s fall musical production of “The Addams Family: School Edition” starring Kinzee Hemann as Wednesday, Mai Knaack as Morticia, and Bennett Sieh as Gomez. The show is set to run Nov. 14-15.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck student art on display at City Hall during the 15th annual Reinbeck Art Festival. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

A hop, skip and a jump through the puddles led many festivalgoers from Main Street over to the Reinbeck Public Library, where Director Michelle Sieh hosted several art projects for kids and kids-at-heart, including this year’s community project – a large blank canvas emblazoned with the words “One Library, Many Pieces.” Festivalgoers were encouraged to help decorate the project by painting small puzzle pieces which were then affixed to the canvas.

Across the street as the crow flies from the library, The Community Enrichment Center (The CEC) hosted a non-juried art show featuring local artists of both today and yesteryear.

In tandem with the art festival, the Reinbeck Farmers Market was also scheduled for Saturday morning along Broad Street. Due to the weather, The Dig Inn’s Ben and Holly Robertson hosted the market inside their bar-meets-record-store. Welcoming folks to the market was organizer Cindy Rufenacht, who had the children’s table set up just inside The Dig Inn door. Several talented youngsters were painting away on canvases during the newspaper’s stop that morning.

One event that, unfortunately, did not take place was the no-fee car show planned for the east end of downtown’s Main Street. One lone car – a classic Dodge Dart Swinger – sat glistening in the rain near the intersection of Main and Broad streets. Morrison Mayor Dave Hach, himself a classic car owner who was attending the festival Saturday morning, told the newspaper he “used to own that car” back when he was in high school. “It’s a beauty,” he agreed before lamenting he had ever parted ways with the red stunner.

Despite the rain, the showing of “Tom and Jerry” went on as planned, moving from Main Street at sunset to inside the Memorial Building. Children and their parents cozied up in front of the big screen with quilts, blankets and outdoor chairs, munching on popcorn sponsored by Generational Wealth Partners and candy doled out by Mayor Pro Tem and Lions Club member Dale Wambold. The event was jointly sponsored by the Reinbeck Lions Club and Generational Wealth Partners in coordination with the public library.

Generational Wealth Partners donated popcorn for the art festival's finale, a Movie on Main screening of "Tom and Jerry." The event took place inside the Memorial Building due to weather. PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE SIEH

As the evening wound down inside the Memorial Building, local youngster Rooney Tessendorf could be observed sleeping soundly, curled up in a moon chair – seemingly well blessed following a fantastic, albeit rainy, day in downtown Reinbeck.

Rooney Tessendorf pictured during the Movie on Main event at the Reinbeck Memorial Building Saturday evening. PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE SIEH

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTOS BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER