2008-06-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

The committee for the Winyah Bay Heritage Festival has been meeting since the 2008 festival ended in January, preparing for the 2009 festival. The dates for the festival are January 17 and 18 (Saturday and Sunday).

Many exciting things are falling into place and will be shared through press releases. Most recent news is the decision for the 2009 featured artist and guest lecturer.

The 2009 featured artist is Wendy Allen, Manager of the North Inlet Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve at Hobcaw Barony. Wendy is a dedicated conservationist, naturalist and a great fly fisher-woman. One of her favorite fish to catch inshore is the spottail bass. The art the committee chose is a gyotaku of a spottail. Gyotaku is a Japanese form of fish printing, where ink is "painted" on the fish and then pressed onto paper to document an individual's catch. In previous years the featured art was a painting of a Caines decoy by Jerry Caines and a photograph of an alligator in the marsh by Phil Wilkenson.

Wendy's art will bring a new dimension to the Heritage Festival. Fishing, whether for sport or business, is a large part of the heritage of Winyah Bay. Because of the art chosen, a new childrens activity will be available this year that will allow children to paint rubber fish molds and document their art on a t-shirt to take home.