This year’s Arts in the Heart of Augusta was not hurricane plagued the way last year’s was, and was a great weekend of good food, performances, and generally great chances to take pictures.

Each year opens with a parade to celebrate the diverse set of communities that have settled in and around Augusta.

Image shows a collection of women of Chinese decent with green t-shirts with drum sticks raised as they perform on a large outdoor stage.
Drummers from the Chinese community welcomed everyone to the annual opening parade.
A collection of people ranging in age from small children to older adults, in ethnic dress from Greece, Jamaica, Latin America, and other parts of the world. The Greek flag is prominent in the foreground.
Representatives from various communities waiting their turn.
Small children and teenagers walking with the Lebanese flag. The small children traditional ethnic clothes, while the teenagers wear t-shirts and camo pants and have Lebanese flag head bands.
Children from the Lebanese community.
A group of people of Jamaican decent hold a large Jamaican flag.
A woman of east asian decent, wearing a traditional dress, stands in front of a man wearing a sash from Ireland holding an American flag, while a boy of Indian decent stands next to them holding an Indian flag. All prepared to walk when their turn comes.
Two small children in traditional Cuban clothes, dance with a large group of adults. The adults are waving flags from several countries.
And at the end of the parade everyone dances.

The whole event is built around artists selling their work. They manage to pull in people from a fairly large area, but also make space for young local artists to try to get started selling their work.

A young local artist sitting with her paintings and drawings.
A teenage male photographer wearing a Nirvana t-shirt and looking defiant stands by a table with his pictures. A teenage female painter stands by her own table displaying her work.
A woman selling crocheted dresses and women's tops stands at her table showing her wears to festival goers.
Painted gourds on a table for sale at the festival. The crocheted tops from the previous picture are in the background.
Festival goers reviewing paintings for sale at a booth. A young girl and older gentleman (maybe her grandfather) are looking together as some images in a collection not mounted on the booth wall.
Blown glass decorations, akin to a pumpkin or a gourd, on a table in the sun for people to look at and buy.
A woman of Asian decent is weaving on a moderate sized loom while a little girl of European decent watches excitedly. Several scarves and table runners are mounted in the background for display and sale.
A smiling male potter of European decent, wearing an badge marking him as the artist, sits in his booth framed by pieces he is selling as festival goers review his wears.
A group of painters working in an open air space with 'artzilla' painted on the wall behind. Several partial paintings can be seen as the artists work.

For us, and for many others, the variety of ethic foods available for purchase is a large part of the draw.

A crowd of people walking passed a series of white tents labeled with the names of countries like Sudan and Lebanon, where they are selling ethnic foods from those countries.
A man wearing a tarboush (Lebanese hat) cutting chicken from a shawarma for sale at the Lebanon food tent.
Several Indian immigrants standing at their food table selling vegetarian dishes that are always highly popular. Descriptions of their dishes are shown in front of each chaffing dish.
An African American family sitting in lawn chairs in a green space enjoying the lunches they purchased at a time.

It’s also a great event for just plain people watching. Between watching the various performances, enjoying the vendors, and the many activities, there are lots of chances to watch people having a good time with their friends and family.

A family walking through the crowd. Including the father pushing a little girl in her stroller – she is wearing a fairy costume. A young teenage boy dressed as Link from Legend of Zelda, and followed by the mother wearing another fairy costume, hers with wings.
A family waiting in the main green, the little girls are wearing costumes from a local dance troop, as they wait their turn on the main stage.
A family with adults holding children all smiling as they enjoy a day out.
A little girl jumping in the air mimicking a dance pose and other families and children mill about around her.
A photograph standing against a light post trying to get pictures of the crowd.
A woman sitting on the ground in smiling and looking relaxed as she watches a performance on the main stage. Other people are pictured in the background looking talking and having a good time together.
A large African American woman, with two little girls standing at the edge of a crowd facing away. Each dressed in a t-shirt and tool skirt. The mother's is long and blue, the little girls' are short and red. They are clearly either just finished a performance or are about to perform.
A group of college students are various backgrounds sitting on the ground watching their friends from the Hindu temple society performing on the main stage.
Two men of Indian decent, with cell phones raised, watch a performance from the main green.
A little boy dancing in the grass, with a pacifier in his mouth, defiant look on his face, pointing at the camera.
A little boy running on the green in front of the main stage.
A little girl playing on the green in front of the banner reading Arts in the Heart, looking over her shoulder to check that she knows where her family is.
A little boy of Indian decent wearing an Indian military uniform gets instructions from his mother before going on stage. He is sort of paying attention, but mostly ignoring her.
A young African American girl holding and hands and walking with a man who appears to be her father. He is looking at his phone, she is looking over her shoulder at the stage.
An African American couple stands on the green watching a performance. She is holding a phone to record the moment, he is simply watching and smiling.

Mixed in with the vendors, food, family activities, stages, and other goes on are always a mix of street performers.

A boy standing on the side of the sidewalk playing an accordion, the case is open so people can leave tips.
A middle-aged magician smiles at a little girl who is petting his live rabbit sitting on a table.
A woman dressed in a custom meant to inspire images of old circuses, performs in a mounted ring as people in front and behind her watch.
A woman of European decent is dressed as a mermaid is sitting on a large inflatable clamshell while two machines blow bubbles over her and a man, also of European decent, dress as a pirate looks on while holding parasole.
The man dressed as a pirate, holding a white parasol, is having his picture taken with an African American festival goer.
A man standing next to a blue parrot on a stand. The bird has her wings out stretched, and her yellow underwing and body are prominently shown.
He said he had picked her up at the rescue that morning. Because where else to you take your new parrot?
The blue and yellow parrot, now resting with her wings closed, watches the photographer from her perch.
A group of adults are performing on the street. Two women on violins, and a man on the accordion. Cases are open to accept tips, and they seem to be doing well.

There are several stages setup throughout the event, spanning several city blocks. The performances range from local signers to dance troops, street performers

An African American woman singing on an indoor stage. She is clearly comfortable with the microphone and is smiling as she sings.
A troop of African American girls dancing on the main stage, their hair is flying as they move with energy.
An African American teenage door dancing in a costume inspired by I Dream of Jeannie. His vest is flying open as he moves.
A collection of women of european decent doing ballroom dancing in costumes with tassels that fly as they turn.
Another of a woman from the ballroom troop. The tassels on her top and pants flying out, as her leg moves forward and her head is tossed back – her hair is flying away from her face as she moves.
A belly dance troop dancing on a side stage. Women of various backgrounds are shown dancing in a generally middle eastern style of dress and movement.
A belly dancer in a yellow costume dominates the stage as she leans forward in her dance.
A little boy standing on the main green in front of the Arts in the heart banner watching some girls from the Hindu temple society dance.
The girls who were just dancing, still dressed from their performance, are now kneeling on the green watching some older kids dance.
A college aged man from the Hindu temple society in a bright red costume dances next to some young women of the group. Everyone smiling and enjoying themselves.
A pair of college women from the Hindu temple society in brightly colored costumes dance in front of the backdrop labeled for the festival.
A group of teenagers from the Hindu temple society dance in their traditionally bright costumes on the main stage.
A young woman of Indian decent wearing a bright Shalwar kameez smiles as she dances.
A group of teenagers from the Hindu temple society jump in unison during their performance.
A woman from China, in a bright yellow dress, dances with long rainbow streamers flying in an arch in front of her.
The Chinese woman in yellow is facing the camera as she dances with her hands raised above her head.
A group of girls of Chinese decent in matching blue costumes hold hands as they perform a dance on the main stage.
An older main from China doing a Tai Chi demonstration with a group. Each wearing matching purple shirts and black pants.
An African American man performing with the group from the Chinese community wearing the purple shirt from the Tai Chi demonstration.
Young girls of Chinese decent, dressed in bright red and block costumes dance over a series of bamboo bars.
Two men playing guitar on a side stage. They are watching each other and smiling as they play together.
Only one of the guitar players is now pictured, his sun glasses resting on his baseball cap as he watches the lead singer and play along.
A woman of European decent, wearing an off-white dress and shorts, and playing a chello and singing. Her legs are wide to accommodate the instrument and her hands are blurred as she plays hard and fast.
A woman performs on a suspended ring on the main stage. She is wearing tight purple leggings and an orange top as she lays back in the ring.
A woman in green and brown performs in the suspended ring, a finger in the foreground is pointing at the performer.
A woman in a purple two piece costume laying entirely within the suspended ring.
A woman in a black and blue unitard, with her legs spread against the ring to hold her in place, is suspended head-first toward the stage with her arms spread wide during her turn in the suspended ring.
Two women in pink tops and black leggings perform together in the ring, one suspended below supported by hold the ring in her hand and trusting her partner to hold her legs.

Until next year…

Two people walking away from the camera as the sun is setting. A few other people milling about. The woman is wearing a traditional Mexican dress and hat.