Old Florida Celebration of the Arts under New Leadership

The Cedar Key Arts Center is proud to announce that they will be working in partnership with the Cedar Key Area Chamber of Commerce to be the new sponsor of the 46th Annual Old Florida Celebration of the Arts (OFCA). An additional change includes welcoming new event coordinator, Mandy Cassiano.

In 2005, the Chamber of Commerce became the sponsor of this event that has been a tradition in Cedar Key since 1964. It was originally known as the Sidewalk Arts Festival and was started by Ms. Bessie Gibbs. According to old news clippings from the St. Petersburg Times, this original fine arts festival attracted over 100,000 visitors at its peak and artists would set up the night before to stake out their sidewalk spots. Mainly due to the unprecedented amount of people who would come for the weekend, a number unwelcomed by this tiny island, the fine arts festival changed and over time the fine art tradition was lost. That is until 2005 when the Chamber became the sponsor. Under the Chamber's lead, as well as numerous talented and committed artists (especially Carol Patillo and Marsha Schwartz) and volunteers in our community 'a return to fine arts' and a return to Cedar Key tradition began.

One of those volunteers in 2005 was Missy Woods Jackson. New to Cedar Key and having lived 5 years in another fishing village, Dauphin Island, Alabama, she wanted to be a part of and be involved in this tight-knit community. In 2007 she accepted the position as Coordinator for Old Florida Celebration and has worked for the Chamber, City, businesses, nonprofits and residents of Cedar Key to make this a unique and special event. Missy has done a remarkable job organizing and the event has grown steadily under her guidance. Although 2009's event was a tough year due to the economy, it was still a success given the wonderful art on the street and the fact that we had the same amount of visitors as the previous year, according to Department of Transportation traffic counts and visitor surveys. As Missy and her husband, Jered and son, Sawyer move on to Jacksonville for new career opportunities, Missy says, "Living in Cedar Key and getting to know the community through organizing OFCA has really given me insight to what drives our town. It has been important to me to help however I can, given our unique needs. I loved helping our economy and was so happy to attract such a wonderful group of guests and artists to Cedar Key for one special weekend every spring. I know Mandy will do a great job and continue to make this a successful Celebration for Cedar Key." Mandy Cassiano and her family Eric and son Issac recently returned to Cedar Key. She has corporate event planning experience. After returning to Cedar Key, Mandy had already begun to volunteer on the OFCA planning committee before Missy knew she would be departing in December. The Cedar Key Arts Center and the Chamber of Commerce are looking forward to working with her during the coming months.

The 2010 Old Florida Celebration of the Arts will take place on 2nd Street on April 24 & 25, 2010. This event will attract over 100 fine artists and over 25,000 visitors to Cedar Key. Although the Arts Center had been reluctant to take on this responsibility in the past because of its relatively small size and budget, the Center has played an active roll in the OFCA over the past several years by sponsoring the Saturday Evening Artists' Reception, donating a creativity award, providing numerous volunteers to the event and last year funding a purchase award that bought a piece of art that now hangs in the entrance of our Community Center. After careful consideration and review of its mission and aims and discussions with the Chamber and the City, the Art Center Board agreed that assuming coordinating sponsorship made sense.

An OFCA committee made up of representatives from the art, business & non-profit community has played a key role in the success of the spring festival in the past and will continue to work with the new coordinator. No big changes are planned in this transitional year. The hope is to build on the strengths of the past. In addition, the OFCA office will remain in the Chamber of Commerce thanks to the support of the Chamber Board.

Cedar Key is known for its natural beauty, its seafood and aquaculture and for its art. Throughout the past 50 years, artists have been attracted to Cedar Key and Cedar Key has come to be known as an art community. It is this vision of a community that nurtures and supports the arts and the City of Cedar Key and CRA want to cultivate this part of our cultural history by supporting an annual juried fine arts festival. If you are interested in becoming more involved, please contact Mandy Cassisano at (352) 543-5400.

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