A quick response from Foley Parks and Recreation staff on Saturday morning helped keep the annual Art in the Park event from being washed out. The popular festival is held each year on Mother’s Day weekend in John B. Foley Park. It is organized by the Foley Art Center and raises money for local art scholarships. The event has become a long-standing tradition in the community.

This year’s Art in the Park nearly didn’t happen after heavy rain soaked the area overnight on May 9 and into the morning of May 10. Many of the 80 artists were in the middle of setting up when the weather turned bad.

Chloe Salinas, executive director of the Foley Art Center, said the park flooded during the storms and there was concern the event would have to be postponed.

“A lot of the vendors set up on Friday, and they thought they were going to be OK. They had done everything correctly as far as sandbagging and fenders, but it just rained so much Friday night and Saturday morning,” she said.

She said city workers turned out early Saturday to begin the cleanup.

“The city crew came in with pumps, and they were able to pump the water out,” Salinas said. “They brought in sand, and they had it cleaned up.” 

She said the park had up to 6 inches of water standing in some places before crews began work.

“Had it not been for them getting in the pumps and getting everything done right away, we would have had to cancel for Saturday,” she said, “There was just no way we could have done it.”

She said that in addition to the workers who were on call for the weekend, more Foley employees turned out on Saturday morning to help clean the park and get the event going.

“Unfortunately, on Saturday morning, they only had three guys on the roster to work that morning,” Salinas said. “More of them came in and filled in so they could get it cleaned up as fast as possible.”

Employees who helped with the cleanup included Ryan Harrison, Freddy Cuellar, Matthew D’Agati, Joanna Blue, Michelle Gann, Wes McKenzie, Corey Ryan, Vincent Salac and Daniel Seavall.

“They really did a great job and helped make the weekend a success,” Salinas said. “We would not have been able to do this without them.”