The Johnston County Arts Council hosted its First Annual Arts and Food Festival Gala on Friday, April 30 at the Johnston County Agricultural Auditorium.

Eighteen Johnston County artists participated in the juried art show. Rachel Berry, Director of Programs and Exhibitions at Visual Art Exchange (VAE) in Raleigh awarded the following:

1st Place: Doug Strickland-Blue Windows; 2nd Place: Jo Tucker-Haiti Prayers; 3rd Place: Janie Prete-High Cotton; Honorable Mentions: Kathleen Nobles-Tobacco Barns and Gail O’Neil-Koi Pond. First place winner received $200, second place-$100 and third place- $50. Each of the honorable mention winners received gift bags of art supplies donated by Jerry’s Artarama and Askew Taylor Paints. Carolyn Howard received the People’s Choice Award for Best Artist as determined by vote of festival attendees.

Twelve Johnston County restaurants offered samplings of their signature dishes for local food critic, Andrea Weigel, of the News and Observer, with the following restaurants receiving awards:

Best Entrée-McKinley’s of Clayton; Best Dessert-The Pound Cake Company of Benson and Best Presentation-Casey’s Floral and Catering Service of Princeton. Casey’s Floral and Catering Service of Princeton also received the People’s Choice Award for Best Restaurant as determined by vote of festival attendees.

The fundraiser generated monies to assist the Arts Council with funding for the 2010 Artists-in-the-Schools program, in providing scholarships for Johnston Community College students studying Fine Arts, and free community programming including; Johnston County Reads, monthly plein-air paint outs, student art exhibits as well as the 26th season of Music for the Lunch Bunch.

To request additional information on the Johnston County Arts Council, please contact Zilphia Adcock at 919.553.1930 or info@johnstoncountyarts.org.