The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

Some describe Robert Frith as a guitarist / vocalist; others as a singer / songwriter. 

No matter what you call him, his trio will headline the seventh annual Art in the Park set for 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday in downtown Orange.

Also appearing will be the Dixie Revue, Boone’s Jazz Quartet and the Bridge City band Cypress, and of course all the area artists displaying and selling their work. Admission is free.

Frith is a Port Arthur native, a former “Nashville Star” finalist and two-time winner of the Texas Music Awards’ Singer-Songwriter of the Year designation. He makes his home in Sugarland.

“Out of 165 booth spaces, we have 88 assigned and some of those are by multiple artists,” said Darlene Zavada of the Orange Convention and Visitors’ Bureau (CVB).

“We have 14 food vendors and we’ll have Kids’ Alley, which is arts and crafts for children that they get to take home with them.” Arts and crafts will be in Stark Park, Kids’ Alley will be outside of city hall on the lawn and vendors will be behind the old CVB building on Main Avenue. That office was flooded during Hurricane Ike.

“There was enough damage to make two feet of sheetrock come out. They took off two feet of sheetrock from around the building,” said Zavada, who has relocated inside the personnel room on the first floor of city hall. She hopes to be back in her old office by May.

Officials expect more than 5,000 or 6,000 attending this year’s event.

“We’ve had that many in the past and the weather’s supposed to be great,” Zavada said.

At presstime Tuesday, there was still vendor space available. The deadline is Thursday, by calling 883-1010. Vendors must fill out an application with Zavada in city hall.

Frith just completed recording of his fourth CD, where he teamed up with Grammy-winning writer and Southeast Texas native Don Rollins (“It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere”).

Frith’s third effort in 2003 was titled “Boogaloo.” His style has been described as “a mix of equal parts Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Al Green.”