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Midway Art Festival draws fans
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George Ginter sits among his carved figures. - photo by Photo by Lewis Levine

Visitors who strolled from vendor to vendor Saturday at the ninth annual Midway Arts Festival encountered art from across the area.
There were intricate pieces depicting religious portraits, such as one of  Jesus Christ that took Richmond Hill artist Nina Flores 80 hours to complete. Flores said her display was a collection of traditional and orthodox artwork. She had displayed on her table a collection of religious icons that are worn as extra protection in her native country, Bulgaria.  
“Icons are very popular in my country, so I’m trying to follow the traditions,” she said.
Each icon took Flores about 1 ½ hours. Flores attends various art festivals in the region.
John Stone and his wife, Yvanette, were selling balsa-wood roses made from shavings and frames made from trees as old as 175 years old. John Stone said the frames he hand carves are made from pecky wood and wormy chestnut. He said the pecky wood came from a river in Florida and had been submerged for 85 years before he received it and turned the wood into frames.
Guy Browning and George Ginter are woodcarvers from Midway.  
“The Boy Scouts got me into carving,” Ginter said.  
The pair’s creations ranged from intricate wooden Indians to Civil War soldiers and cowboys.
The Midway Arts Festival is held on the last Saturday in April and is an opportunity for descendants of original settlers to meet their out-of-town family members, according to Tina Scott, president of the Midway Museum and gallery.
“It’s the homecoming weekend when descendants have lunch and attend church and meet the creative artists in the area,” she said.

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