Hey, guys. It's Amanda and Baron, the ABCs of KSLM Radio.
Because Amanda and Baron are having conversations.
Yes, we are. And in studio, we have Laurie. Good morning. How are you?
I'm good. Thanks.
Yes. So tell us, how our listeners may know you because I know you've been a big part of our community. So give us a little bit of background.
Thanks so much. My name is Laurie Christopher, and I was mayor of Kaiser from 2000 to 2014. And after my after I exited being mayor, I focused more on the Keiser Cultural Center and working in the arts community. So I'm president of Kaiser Art Association, and that's what brings us here today.
Awesome. So you just dove right. You still dove into the community and stayed in the roots of it.
I love that. Absolutely. I love my community. I love that. And I feel like I did an adequate job of promoting Kaiser, and I just continue that. There's we've got so much good stuff going on.
I love that. Awesome.
Well, and I will say that our family moved to Kaiser in late 96 Mhmm. And, I was asked to be a scout master for a scout troop there. I had these young scouts who were trying to learn the citizenship and the community merit badge, and at the time there was this brand new mayor, and I thought, well, I should bring them down to to city hall and talk to this brand new mayor. So it was about 2,000, somewhere in that range, that I met Lori, Mayor Lori Christopher back then, and I had 10 or 15 scouts, so you educated them on community citizenship.
Oh, I love that. It was Yeah, I used to do a 3rd 4th grade too called who's the boss? And it was such a fun presentation, and it was just civics 101. Yeah. And really, it came down to who's the boss? The voter is the boss. Amen. So anyway, it was fun. That's awesome.
Well, and it's interesting that you say that because that was holy cow, that was 24 years ago that we did that together. Yeah. And even back then, those scouts did not really understand civics 101.
None of them do.
And now, 24 years later, it's even less taught. So I thought you did a great job of teaching these young scouts who the boss really is. Right. Yeah. So but you're not the boss at Kaiser, but you are the boss of the art association or kind of.
Well, I mean, you know.
You're the boss of Me
and another 9 people on the board So this year we've been wanting to bring an art fair to Kaiser for years literally for more than 10 years years. So
This is what I mean. We're almost out of time, and I want you to tell us in about a half an hour how you brought that to Kaiser. Alright. We'll be right back. You guys stay tuned.
Hey, guys. It's Amanda and Barron, the ABCs of KSLM Radio.
Well, if you were listening a half an hour ago, I'm gonna fall on my own sword because I asked I asked Laurie a question with not enough time to answer the question So, Laurie, what are you doing in the Keiser community when it comes to
art? So we've wanted for 10 years to bring an art fair to Kaiser. The timing was never right, but we feel now the time is right for a couple of reasons. First of all, we have partnered with the Kaiser Chamber of Commerce. We're an auxiliary event of Kaiserfest. So that brings a built in audience for us.
Oh, yeah.
10 to 15000 people. It's August 9th, 10th, and 11th, and we'll be down at Kaiser Rapids Park. And Keiser Rapids Park is just the ideal scenario for this type of event, and here's why. There are a lot of problems with the Salem Art Fair and Bush Park for mobility, folks with any type of mobility issues at all. That won't be the case at Keiser Rapids Park.
We have paved parking, and then we have a paved pathway that is 12 feet wide. So they anyone, it's all access, will be able to navigate that. We'll have the tent set up on either side of the 12 foot path. We're on the southernmost leg of the 12 foot path that runs a giant 1 mile plus loop around Keiser Rapids Park. We're adjacent to the river, hence the name of our art fair, which is Keiser's Riverwalk Art Fair.
I love the Riverwalk thing. Well, you see
the river as you're walking. It's gorgeous. And then we have these lovely cottonwood trees that hang over and provide shade, also in August, a critical component for success. This was the right year because the the Silverton Art Fair for I don't know the reason, but they decided not to have their art fair this year.
Okay.
And Salem has changed the date of their art fair till September. So we'll be the 1st art fair, and then it'll be followed up with the Salem art fair.
And the Salem art fair, that's the one that's at Bush Park?
Correct.
Okay, and that's been there for quite a while?
Correct.
But the dynamics have changed in that art fair, so yours is even a better timing for what you have coming up.
Well, I think the timing is perfect, because it's an auxiliary event with the chamber. And I think that synergy, this is new. This is new for Kaiser Chamber of Commerce, and I think it brings a whole new population, not only into Kaiser, but into the Kaiser Fest. So if folks need to have food trucks or we'll have restrooms down by the art fair. But if they need if they wanna listen to music, if they wanna, patronize the food trucks, they can do so up at Kaiserfest.
We are point 2 miles, so almost a quarter mile away from the main Kaiserfest setup, and we're out, like I said, adjacent to the river. The artists are all Oregon artists. Here's where we're different from the Salem Art Fair. We're not on the art circuit. So all of our artists are Oregon only.
We specifically wanted to do that for Oregon only artists. And the cost to the artist is very inexpensive, a $150 that pays for security. We take no permission from the artist. Everything they sell, they keep.
Awesome. Nice. We'll be
right back, you guys. Stay tuned. Hey, guys. It's Amanda and Barron, the ABCs of KSLM Radio.
Well, you've established a great partnership with the chamber and an event that's already existing, which gives you people to come in. And I don't know anything where it's the 1st year, the inaugural year. Mhmm. It's hard to get them to come in, that collaboration is great. But since it is the inaugural year, what can they expect at your walk?
Well, they can expect to see local Oregon artists. We already have 32 artist booths set up. We were 32
for your 1st year?
Yes. That's awesome. So the need is there. These artists want to sell their goods. Yeah. We do not jury the art. If you are an Oregon artist and if your work is authentic and you have a $150 to pay for security, you're in and That's part of our mission. Kaiser Art Association's mission is promotion of local artists. That's what we wanna do.
Now when you say local, and and is it just Oregon? Is it just Salem? Okay. What is your definition of local artist?
Just Oregon. Just Oregon.
Mhmm. So it could be someone from Bend, it could be someone from East in Oregon,
because I And is. Yeah.
And I and I grew up in Eastern Oregon, I grew up in the Hermiston, Pendleton area and the art over there is different because it's a bunch of cowboys. Right? Yeah. And and the art is different, but it's really cool to watch it in comparison to say someone who's on the coast where their art is more beach type.
The perfect blend of what Oregon actually is.
Exactly. And we just see this growing, growing, growing. I'd like to see in the future 200 Oregon artists out there. Mhmm. And this year, we're not gonna have any demonstration booths. We're not gonna have any kids' art. We're just trying to put on the art fair for the 1st year. Next year, we'll survey our artists and ask them what they want. Yeah. If they want their own food truck, we'll get it down there.
If we wanna do demonstration booths, we will. Now Corbin University, a couple of teachers from Corbin have contacted us. They wanna provide music for us. Okay. So we're gonna have original pieces of music written by Oregon artists that will be playing piano at the yes. It's too fun.
Too fun.
Love that.
And we got about 15 seconds in this segment. What are the dates again?
The dates are August 9, 10 and 11, 11 to 6 on Friday Saturday, 11 to 3 on Sunday.
Okay. Well, I have an hour to tell some more about what's fun stuff coming up.
Perfect. We're gonna send it back to you, Dan Bongino.
Stay tuned, and we'll be back in about 30 minutes.
Hey, guys. It's Amanda and Baron, the ABCs of KSLM Radio.
We're talking with Laurie Christopher about a great event that's coming up in August.
Yes. I have a question really quick. What is, so somebody wanted to sign up and be have a booth at your art fair. How could they do that? And what is the limit with art? Is it painting? Is it jewelry? Is it clay? What's
I love that. I've been asked over and over again. What's your definition of art? Yes. Well, really, what is anyone's definition of art? So we hope to have broad based. There may be some more craft related type art. There may be some very high end fine art. There's certainly going to be jewelry. There's going to be woodworking.
So there will be a myriad of variety jurying the art. We're not gonna tell you what you get to buy. If you're an Oregon artist and if this is authentic, original work, and you have a $150 to pay for the security, you're in.
Awesome. And how would they get in contact?
So easy. Just go to the Kaiser Art Association's website, which is kaiserarts.com, and then choose call to artists, and call to artists will have all of our programming that we're looking for artists to submit information about, and the art fair will be there.
Awesome. And if you guys didn't catch that or you can't quite find it, just email me, amanda@kslm.news, and I will shoot you over all of those links to make it real simple. Or
call Kaiser Art Association on the phone. Perfect. And we'll hook you.
Awesome.
So this is your 1st year. This is the inaugural. Yes. I can tell just conversations during the breaks. This is not the end. Yes. You've got a bigger vision, Laurie.
Yes.
Where do you see this thing going?
You know, Baron, I don't lend my name to anything that I don't put put full throated support for. And everything, I've been so, so fortunate in my years in in Kaiser. Everything that I've been involved with and have have, supported has been highly successful. This is going to be highly successful. This is a need for Oregon artists.
We want to showcase what we have in Oregon and what we have locally, and we want to do it as inexpensively as we can for the artists so they get to keep every dollar they make from their original artwork. So I see in the future this coming to be over 200 booths in the next 5 years.
And and that loop that you're talking about is big enough to hold 200 vendors, isn't it? You bet it is, baby.
I love how excited you are. It shows through you that you're just you're passionate about this
and No.
This is a winner. This is a winner. And And I'm telling you, this is going to go gangbusters, not only because the location is so perfect, but focusing on Oregon artists Mhmm. And giving back to the artists. It's so hard for them to make a living. They're all independent business owners. Yeah. And I'm all about independent business owners. So let's give them a break.
Yeah. Well, and and the problem with many artists is they're independent business owners, but they're not many of them are not business people They're artists like they know how to make stuff with clay or draw or you know But they need to learn how to be business people too You're giving them a place where they can take their their craft and still sell it and make money. Yes. And that's that's the piece that most of our missing is how do I take my craft and actually sell it?
Yeah. And then we get to see it all.
Yes. Win win. Yes. Win win. Well, thank you so much and we're Thank you. Excited.