Art in the Park prospers

"This is where they set up," Sara Denton says, gesturing excitedly at the grass in Boulder City's Wilbur Square. "The artists built their own easels out of two-by-fours."

Denton is remembering the first Boulder City Art in the Park festival, which enters its 46th year this weekend.

"Booths didn't come along until much later," says the Boulder City housewife and political volunteer, who enters her 84th year next month.

Back in 1962, Denton socialized with three Boulder City Hospital Auxiliary members who volunteered as "pink ladies" for the financially beleaguered institution. Marge Swallow, Bambi Thompson and Peggy Hyde had an idea to raise money to build a new hospital.

Denton was drafted as co-chairman of the art festival, partly because her roomy house -- with the lake view -- would be perfect for the pre-event cocktail party. But the pink ladies also recognized Denton's proven skills as a Democratic fundraiser.

"I went to all these art collectors that I knew," Denton explains, "and I put together a program and hit up local hotels for ads."

By the next year, Denton chaired the festival herself. She did so, on and off, until 1982. (Art in the Park has been managed by the Boulder City Hospital Foundation since 2000.)

"This is where it went, from that tree to that tree," Denton says, continuing her stroll through what in 1962 was called Government Park.

She's remembering "the clothesline," a feature of the festival until the '70s. This nylon cord offered unframed paintings and sketches to festivalgoers for $10 or less. Each artist had to donate at least two works to dangle.

"That was their entry fee," Denton says. (Now, artists pay $425 or $850, depending on their booth size.)

That first year, Denton estimates that 500 visitors attended to ogle and buy works by 75 artists drawn from California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.

"We thought, 'Oh, if we could raise 500 dollars for the hospital, that would be wonderful," Denton says.

Instead, the festival raised $2,000. Bank of Las Vegas President E. Parry Thomas alone bought a dozen $75 to $100 sketches by Jim Swinnerton, a Western artist and cartoonist living in Palm Springs, Calif.

The next year, the festival raised $5,000 for the hospital.

"Oh, they were happy," Denton says. "That was a lot of money back then."

Denton walks back up a small hill to her house, the same one that hosted that long-ago cocktail party. On her back porch, she leafs through yellowed Boulder City News clippings about herself and the pink ladies -- of whom only Thompson is still alive.

"I think she's living in the Bay Area," Denton says.

More memories from that first year flood back. For instance, Swinnerton agreed to come only if his paintings weren't displayed outdoors.

"By God, he wasn't going to let his paintings sit in the sunshine," Denton says, shaking her head.

Denton agreed to convert her living room into extra exhibit space for the demanding artist's work. Both her furniture and three children -- including sixth-grader Mark, now a Clark County judge -- had to be displaced.

"It was interesting," Denton says.

In 1973, that new hospital finally opened at 901 Adams Blvd. (The old one, at 701 Park Place, became Wellspring Retreat Center, which the Orthodox Church in America is trying to sell.)

According to Art in the Park officials, today's festival raises about $200,000 and draws 120,000 visitors each year. It has been expanded from one to two days. And it not only fills Wilbur Square but also Bicentennial and Escalante parks, as well as Colorado and Arizona streets.

"It's just a monumental thing now," Denton says.

Denton doesn't believe all the change is good, however.

"I've been disturbed about it over the last few years," she says. "They've let too many crafts in. I see the same crafts-people here that you see in Summerlin and Pahrump."

Denton claims these professional dealers sell "a lot of manufactured jewelry and stuff."

"But it makes money for the hospital," she says. "I guess you can't complain about that."

Contact reporter Corey Levitan at clevitan@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0456.