Hometown News and Views

By Michael d’Oliveira
Pelican staff
Pompano Beach – City officials worked hard to redevelop the beach area at Atlantic Boulevard and now they want the beach area to work for the city.
This weekend, the “Great Lawn,” an open space area at the heart of the $10 million redevelopment at the beach from Atlantic Boulevard to Northeast 5 Street, will be the home to the Pompano Beach Masters Art Festival, March 2 and 3 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Shanna Benson, special events and marketing manager for the Community Redevelopment Agency [CRA], said the CRA wants to use events like the festival to attract more people to the beach area; people who will patronize the local businesses. “It’s a start of what’s to come down at the beach.”
And Amanda Carpenter, office manager at Greight Spaces, an interior design company in Pompano, said it’s about time the city does more arts events. “[The focus on arts] has definitely grown. It seems like they’re moving on to bigger and better things. A few years ago there wasn’t much about the arts, at least in my opinion,” she said, adding that the city is becoming more interesting to younger people.
Richard Sullivan, owner and director of Boulderbrook Productions, the event’s organizer, said the event is starting out small but he wants to see it grow along with the number of people who shop at the beach.
He has 40 artists signed-up – who create in various media from jewelry to photography to paintings – for the inaugural event but plans to eventually reach 80.
  “Each and every time we do the event we want to add a couple more [artists].” His ultimate goal is to have very select exhibitors with each one offering something different and unique “so we don’t have to have hundreds and hundreds of artists.”
For those who can’t wait until Saturday, Greight Spaces, 2611 E. Atlantic Blvd., is hosting a preview party from 6 to 8 p.m.
Carpenter said 10 artists will be at the kick-off reception and Jazz musicians Chris and Chris will be the night’s entertainment. At 8:30 p.m., Vega Lounge, 2775 E. Atlantic Blvd., will host an after party with live music, appetizers and beverages.
Visit www.facebook.com/PompanoBeachCRA for more information.