LANSING, Mich. — It’s an art festival like no other, and once again, ScrapFest will be taking over Old Town and showing us how something as simple as metal can be turned into something beautiful.
"I've always enjoyed working with metal ever since grade school,” said sculptor Robert Welton.
He enjoyed it so much that he went to school for it.
“I started messing around with making different figurines and stuff just playing with it. I realized that they were turning out fairly well, and I really enjoyed it, so I just kept right on going to this day," Welton said.
And for 12 years, he’s been showcasing his art as a part of ScrapFest.
“This year, my sculpture is a peacock. It's mostly stainless steel," he said. “This is the first year I've ever used metal dyes, which are like a paint, and I was really impressed with it," he said.
ScrapFest began 15 years ago as a simple scrap metal sculpture competition.
“What happens is teams get an hour to pick up to 500 pounds of metal for the large piece category or 250 pounds of metal for the small piece category out of Friedland Industries,” said Director Mike Bass. "So they get an hour to pick up the metal, and then, they get a month to make a sculpture.”
But now, it has evolved into so much more. The festival includes a fashion show, live music, a great Scrap Run and eco-artist booths.
“All of the booth artists that are here for the event, at least 75% of the materials that they use is made from re-purposed materials, so it's really cool," Bass said. "The vibe is very light hearted. It's family friendly. We have family activities going on.”
And the best part, you can bid on the sculptures for a good cause.
“70% of the sculpture sales go to the artists, 20% goes to ScrapFest to help us put on the festival. And then 10% goes to a different local charity that we work with," Bass said.
So what are you waiting for? The festival is set for Friday, July 14, and Saturday, July 15.
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