Artful Palette at Hayes Center January 16
Evening of art, food and entertainment to benefit Watauga Arts Council

By Jeff Eason

Every year in January the winter doldrums are smashed apart by one of the most memorable evenings of the year. The annual Artful Palette fundraiser is an evening of “delightful performances, fine food and good company.”

The event serves as the annual fundraiser for the Watauga Arts Council.

This year’s Artful Palette will be held at the Mariam and Robert Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock on Friday, January 16 (with a snow date of January 17). The event will be held from 6 to 9 p.m.

Tickets are on sale now at the Hayes Center and at the Jones House Community and Cultural Center in Boone.

Entertainment at this year’s Artful Palette includes traditional mountain music by Nathan Taylor, Kauner and Olivea Michael as Johnny and June Carter Cash, Baron Fenwick performing classical music on the piano, and the Watauga High School Jazz Band under the direction of Timothy Walker, among others.

Nathan Taylor was recently awarded a Regional Artist Project Grant to help him produce his recording of original songs with a group of local musicians. Fenwick is currently a student at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

Emcee of this year’s event is radio and television personality Bill “Fish” Fisher. Billy Ralph Winkler and Joe Miller served as emcees of the past two Artful Palette fundraisers. South’s of Boone Mall will provide Fisher with his tuxedo.

Restaurant G at Gideon Ridge Inn and Bistro Roca will cater Artful Palette and with coffee courtesy of Espresso News. Jo Ann Hallmark will once again provide cakes in a variety of flavors. There will also be a cash bar for beer and wine.

Tickets

Tickets for the Artful Palette are $40 for a single admission and $75 for a pair of tickets through Friday, January 9. After that date and at the door, single tickets are $45 and a pair of tickets costs $85. For more information, call the WAC at (828) 264-1789.