BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – The Warren County Parks and Recreation Department’s second annual Art in the Park event was held Saturday.

The event took place at Basil Griffin Park, where 445 people came to experience the various creative opportunities they had to offer.

According to WCPR, this is an increase from the 350 participants who attended the inaugural event in 2023.

“Art in the Park is something that many park departments do across the state and country, but we had never done anything like this here,” said Jade Grabeel, operations coordinator at WCPR, when asked how the event originally came about. “We were received with so much joy and love from the community that we thought, ‘Okay, this is going to continue. This is going to be an annual event.'”

This year, over 20 vendors participated in “Art in the Park” and presented local artists and their works to visitors.

According to Grabeel, the event also served to bridge the gap between parks and art.

“Art is so important for child development, but it’s also important for adults and children of all ages,” she said. “We just want to have time for people to associate art with the park. They can go out and paint and do all these fun things in a natural setting.”

The event featured creative activities such as clay making, rock painting, chalk drawing and creative writing, as well as an evening screening of the animated film “Migration” in honor of the ducks for which Basil Griffin Park is famous.

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