7th annual Clydefest returns to Bynum

Posted Friday, April 4, 2008

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Bynum, NC - ChathamArts and the Village of Bynum will celebrate legendary folk artist Clyde Jones at the seventh annual ClydeFest set for April 26. The festival, featuring hands-on children's arts activities with Jones and others, will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Bynum Ball Park located off of U.S. 15-501 in Bynum, between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for ChathamArts members, $2 for children ages 2-12, and free for infants under 2. For information: 919-542-0394, www.chathamarts.org

This year the kids will be invited to tour Jones' nearby yard, where they can enjoy dozens of the fanciful cedar "Clyde Critters" he has crafted with a chain saw, found objects, a little paint and a lot of imagination. There also will be opportunities for children to paint and glitter wooden animal cut-outs made by Jones to take home as souvenirs.

Other festival entertainment includes puppetry with Paperhand Puppets, games, magic, storytelling, face painting, refreshments for sale, and live performances by:

The Bluegrass Experience

Breadfoot (www.breadfoot.com)

The Milagro Saints (www.milagrosaints.com)

As always, Clyde will create a Clyde Critter on the spot to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with proceeds to benefit ChathamArts, the county's nonprofits arts council.

ClydeFest is an annual outdoor festival to honor Jones, an award-winning self-taught folk artist living in Bynum. His cedar giraffes, deer and other "Critters" have been exhibited all over the world. Though they are not for sale, he often gives them away to friends and makes them available for charity auctions. Locally "Clyde Critters" can be seen at UNC's student union and Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill, at Captain John's Dockside Seafood restaurant in Cole Park Plaza in north Chatham, at Pittsboro Town Hall, at the Governor's Mansion in Raleigh, and in yards all over Bynum.

ChathamArts supports arts in the schools, promotes the work of local artists through a Pittsboro gallery and sponsors a range of arts events and performances throughout the year.

The Village of Bynum is an historic former textile-mill community on the Haw River which has become a haven for artists and a venue for Friday night outdoor music concerts at the Bynum General Store.

ClydeFest co-sponsors include: Captain John's Dockside Seafood, Crook's Corner and The BBQ Joint.

Bynum Ball Park is in Bynum, located on the Haw River, five miles north of Pittsboro (about 11 miles south of Chapel Hill) on U.S. 15-501. At the Haw River Bridge, turn onto Durham-Eubanks Road, left on Bynum Road, right on Bynum Hill Road and the Ball Park is on the left.