Artist Patricia Ross of Mt. Vernon works on a drawing during "An Evening of Art" at Humbolt Elementary School May 15.

CANYON CITY – It wasn’t your run-of-the-mill open house at Humbolt Elementary School on May 15 – it was “An Evening of Art” and a whole lot more.

The list of things to see and do was so extensive that Peggy Murphy, the first-grade teacher who spearheaded the event, created maps to hand out.

The fun started in the gymnasium where students had art on display, and the slate of performers included Al Olson on violin and Sophie Cosgrove on flute, the Grant Union dance team, Kathy Moss with cowgirl poetry, the Juniper Singers and the Humbolt Little Singers.

Local artisans were seen at work in the breezeways, painting, drawing and making jewelry and Jaime Cernazanu, who will be heading to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles, Calif. in September, serenaded passersby. Anne Schneider taught rhythm on her Afro-Cuban drums in the library.

On the playing field, fourth-grade students demonstrated their homemade catapults and second-graders showed their erupting volcanos.

“It was really fun when you got to explode the volcano,” said Caleb Rand who is in Linda Gingrich’s second-grade class.

“I learned that it’s kind of tricky to do it,” said second-grader Ty McDaniel, commenting on the difficulty of making the clay volcano, “and it’s actually kind of fun.” He’s a student of Karen Broemeling.

The evening ended with Principal Kris Beal announcing the winners of goodie baskets created by various classes. Money raised from the raffle, $1,500, will help purchase books for the school library and fund the artist-in-residence program.

Beal said the idea behind the event was to get the community more involved in the school.

“We want to thank everyone in the community for their support and all the artists who performed,” she noted. “It far exceeded our expectations.”