BY ARCH ELLWEIN SPECIAL FOR THE HERALD

Dave Roos, Scobey, is thefeatured artist for the 2011Sunrise Festival of the Artsscheduled for Saturday at Vet-erans Memorial Park.

Roos brings his unique met-al art form he has christened“metarsia” to the SunriseFestival, the largest outdoorarts and craftsshow and salein easternMontana andwestern NorthDakota.

Roos appliedfor the pres-tigous posi-tion by re-sponding to anopen call forprospectivefeaturedartists by theSunrise Festi-val committeeof the SidneyArea Cham-ber of Com-merce andAgriculturewhich re-viewed a num-ber of out-standing ap-plicants beforeselecting Roosas the featuredartist.

Roos utilizesa CNC plasmacutter, powdercoating andhis passion formetal to create unique piecesof art.

“I use the plasma cutter asa pencil, the grinder as mypaintbrush, and the heat ofmy torch is my paint. Therearen’t any artifical colors inthese pieces. Everything issealed with a clear coat ofpowder. Each piece is totallyunique, no two are the same,”Roos said.

Applying the skills he ac-quired as an industrial artsteacher for 35 years in White-water, Savage and Scobey,Roos has been enjoying hisretirement with metalworksprojects such as sign makingunder the business name ofEast Fork Designs. In hiswords, last summer he beganplaying with the new tech-nique that creates breathtak-

ing artwork.“Metal has

always fasci-nated me. Idon’t reallyconsider my-self an artist,”Roos said, “Ijust like to play.If art comesout of it that’sgreat. I love tosee people’s re-action, and I’mglad they likeit. I just like thechallenge to dosomething dif-ferent.” Itstarts as a com-puter drawing,and an auto-mated plasmacutter cuts themetal into thedesired forms.Many individ-ual pieces oflight gaugesteel go intoeach picture.Each piece iscut and heatedseparately. Thecolors come

from the intensity of the heatand how long the metal issubjected to it.

“I don’t really know what Ihave until I cool it off. Some-times it doesn’t come outquite right, and I have to do itover,” Roos said.

Once the pieces are fabri-cated, they are reassembledlike a jigsaw puzzle, and it isall sealed in a powder coating

which is baked on to createthe final product. There is noneed to frame Roos’ artworkbecause the frame is part ofthe piece. “They can go on thewall just as they are. It’sframe and artwork all inone.”

One of the pieces Roos ismost proud of is “The Fisher-man,” which is a free stand-ing, five feet tall fountain inthe form of an angler with afish on his line. This piecewon first place in the Pris-matic Powder Coating photocontest. “I guess I’m one ofthe first people to use the in-dustrial finish in artwork.Oh, it’s used on all kinds ofthings – toasters, microwave

ovens – you name it,”Roos explained.

“The Fish-erman”causesquite astir andgener-ates alot ofinterestat thetradeand artshows Rooshas attendedin places likeArizona, Reno, Butteand Cody. Sunrise Festivalcommittee member EnidHuotari saw Roos’ work at a

Williston art show lastfall. “I saw Dave at

the WillistonWild Bunch

show andwas so im-pressedwith theunique-ness of hisart,” Huo-tari said.

Roos wasthen invited

to apply for thefeatured artist

position. As the fea-tured artist, he will have

a complimentary showcasebooth at the Sunrise Festivalof the Arts Saturday, and one

of his pieces titled, “FlyingHome” will be the grandprize of the annual buttonraffle. “Flying Home” is abeautiful piece depicting aneagle soaring through theMontana badlands. Its size is28 inches by 16 inches. Lightplays on its surface creating adifferent impression eachtime you see it. The frame,which is part of the piece, hasa golden copper transparentpowder coating.

Sidney Chamber executivedirector Wade VanEverysaid, “photographs reallydon’t do it justice. People cansee it here at the chamber of-fice. Someone will be verypleased to win it.”

SUNRISE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTSSIDNEY HERALD WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2011 1B

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EntertainmentFriday

Authors panel at the MonDakHeritage Center at 7 p.m.

Saturday9-10 a.m. – Ginny Herrick10-11:15 a.m. – Sidney Swing

Band11:15-11:45 a.m. – Robin and

Cammy Heck11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. –

HealthWorks Kids Club12:15-12:45 p.m. – Commissionary

Kids12:45-1:45 p.m. – 4 By Grace(Leslie Messer, Kelli Bousquet,Colleen Fischer & DenieceSchwab)

1:45-2:15 p.m. – Sidney Tendo TaeKwon Do (Instructor – Mike Bergh)

2:15-2:30 p.m. – Authors reading2:30-3:15 p.m. – Chokecherry Jam

(Old-time music and blues)3:15-4 p.m. – Tami Meras

Master of ceremonies isCarl Redman

Scobey metal artist Roos featured at festival

COURTESY | ARCH ELLWEINDave Roos, Scobey, shows his featured piece of art “Flying Home,” the grand prize for the annual button raffle. Purchase a button in ad-vance for $4 at all Sidney financial institutions, Yellowstone Chiropractic or the chamber office. Buttons will be available for $5 at thefestival.

With summer in full force,the Sunrise Festival of theArts is upon us. Featuringmusic, arts and literature, theevent is always a favorite ofarea patrons. The festival isset for Saturday at VeteransMemorial Park from 9 a.m. to4 p.m.

“It’s a great event,” WadeVan Every, Sidney AreaChamber of Commerce andAgriculture, said. “It’s defi-nitely one of the highlights ofthe summer each year.”

The festival includes aplethora of choices for artsand crafts for all ages featur-ing 52 display booths. There’sa variety of drawings, paint-ings, sculptures and more toview on site.

“There’s a great variety ofdisplays,” Van Every said.

Entertainment will be pro-vided by local musiciansthroughout the day. The kids’corner portion of the event,held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,will include interactive the-atre and games with partici-

pants from the Footlights &Greasepaint Theatre. Alsofrom 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., childsafety identification kits willbe available in cooperationwith the Sidney Police De-partment sponsored by theWomen of the Moose.

Other highlights includeWriters Row, including 15 re-gional and local authors auto-graphing and selling theirbooks.

The event, free to the pub-lic, has concessions all daylong. For transportation, call433-RIDE. Buttons are on salenow for $4 and are available atFirst Bank, Stockman Bank,Richland Federal CreditUnion, Wells Fargo Bank, Yel-lowstone Chiropractic andthe Sidney Area Chamber ofCommerce and Agriculture.The day of the event at thefestival, buttons are $5. Thepurchase of a button gives in-dividuals the chance to wonthe grand prize, “FlyingHome,” by featured artistDavid Roos.

Highlights of SunriseFestival of the Arts

FILE

Art galoreA sample of great art found at last year’s event.

The Footlights and Grease-paint Youth present interac-tive theatre, fun and games atthe Sunrise Festival of theArts Saturday at VeteransMemorial Park. Theatrecamp alumni will man theKids’ Corner which includesa 30-minute children’s intera-tive theatre production, “Di-nosaur Hunter!” at 11 a.m.and 1 p.m.

The dinosaur theme carries

over into the many children’sactivities running from 10a.m. to 2 p.m. in the south-west corner of the SunriseFestival vendor bazaarmarked by a bright orangestorm fence. There will be abean bag toss, temporarytatoos, dino dig and other ac-tivities. An all-day Kids’ Cor-ner pass will be $3 and singleactivities 50 cents.

Join Dr. T. Rex Smith,Rusty Rescue and DustySearch in “DinosaurHunter!” Members of the au-dience will be called forwardto assist in the search whilethe entire audience is em-ployed as a search and rescueteam. Dr. Smith is looking forthe last living dinosaur, andeveryone else is looking for-Dr. Smith! Everyone may find more thanthey counted on. There willbe great photo opportunities

so be sure to bring a camera.The Kids’ Corner is spon-

sored by the Sidney AreaChamber of Commerce and

Agriculture, and the MDULewis and Clark Station.

BY ARCH ELLWEINSPECIAL TO THE HERALD

The Sunrise Festival be-gins Friday for authors par-ticipating in a public meetand greet event and paneldiscussion at the MonDakHeritage Center beginningat 7 p.m.

Be sure to visit the Writ-ers’ Row at the Sunrise Festi-val of the Arts Saturday atVeterans Memorial Park.

Fifteen authors will be onhand to sell, discuss and au-tograph their books. Titlesinclude true life dramas, po-etry, commentary, fiction andwestern lore. Below are a fewof the authors participating.

DR. JIMMIE ASHCRAFT Dr. Jimmie Ashcraft is

back with a new book. Dr.Ashcraft was a very popularphysician in Sidney formany years and now lives inBillings. His book “Reflec-tions of a Country Doctor” isstill available but he now hasa second title to his credit,“The Next Prescription.” Besure to visit with Dr.Ashcraft at the Sunrise Festi-val and get an autographedcopy of his new book.

CHRISTY LESKOVARAuthor Christy Leskovar,

Las Vegas returns to theSunrise Festival this sum-mer. She launched her firstbook, “One Night In A BadInn,” at the Sunrise Festivalseveral years ago and now re-turns with her new book

“Finding The Bad Inn: Dis-covering My Family’s Hid-den Past,” Leskovar relatesher experience researchingthe true story of her family’smysterious past.

DEAN HULSEDean Hulse, Fargo, N.D.,

joins Writers’ Row with hisbook “Westhope.” Growingup in rural north centralNorth Dakota isn’t easy, anda teenager’s dream is escape.Only with the perspective ofexperience, the authorcomes to the realization thatthe Northern Plains is inex-tricably entwined in his psy-che.

RUTH MCLAUGHLINRuth McLaughlin, Great

Falls, grew up in Culbertsonand wrote of her experience.

Her book, “Bound LikeGrass, A Memoir of theWestern High Plains,” was

selected the Montana Bookof the Year in 2010. The gen-erations that followed the pi-oneer homesteaders paid theprice for their forefathersstubborn tenacity in thispoignant true life drama.

DAVID MOGENDavid Mogen, now a pro-

fessor at Colorado State, tellsof his humble beginningsgrowing up in the Froid areain the 1950s and 60s in hisnew book “HonyockerDreams.”

JEANETTE PRODGERSJeanette Prodgers, Miles

City, will be in the MonDak

area promoting the recentreprint of “The Only GoodBear,” a compilation of hair-raising bear hunts duringthe pioneer days of Mon-tana.

CRAIG LANCASTERNewspaper columnist, au-

thor and publisher CraigLancaster, Billings, returnsto the Sunrise Festival to in-troduce his new novel, “TheSummer Son,” and his newpublishing Company, Mis-souri Breaks Press. Lancast-er is also the author of “600Hours of Edward.”

ED KEMMICK For the past 11 years,

Billings Gazette columnistEd Kemmick has chal-lenged and delighted read-ers with his weekly mis-sives. Now his best fea-tures, columns, essays andstories are bound in thebook, ‘The Big Sky, By and

By.” Kemmick will be at theSunrise Festival to visitwith his loyal readers.

CECILE WEHRMAN Investigative journalist

Cecile Wehrman, a formeranchor person at KUMV-TV,makes and in-depth psycho-logical study of a modernday Jesse James in herthought provoking book,“The Brothers Krimm: Thebank robber and the hero.”

Look for the large greenumbrella and Writers’ Rowbanner on the west side ofthe displayers area andbrowse down Writers’ Row.Local and regional authorsare welcome to join Writers’Row at the 21th Sunrise Fes-tival of the Arts Saturday.Booth space is available.

Call the Sidney AreaChamber of Commerce andAgriculture at 433-1916 oremailschamber@midrivers.com

Authors turnout for sunrise festivalSunrise Festival of the Arts2B WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2011 SIDNEY HERALD

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‘Dinosaur Hunter’ featured interactive theatre production

FILESunrise Festival of the Arts has something for everyone including a fun Kids’ Corner for the youth.

FILEWriters’ Row is becoming a very popular addition to the Sunrise Festival of the Arts.

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Child safety kits available at festivalChild safety kits, which in-

clude the DNA and finger-printing kits, will be avail-able at the Sunrise Festival ofthe Arts Saturday, sponsoredby the local Women of theMoose. The child safety boothwill be set up from 10 a.m. to 2p.m. in Veterans MemorialPark. “We have 100 kits avail-able,” LaVanchie Starkey,Woman of the Moose, said.

Each kit consists of a childidentification fingerprintingkit, a DNA isolation card,protective sleeve, sterile cot-ton swabs and complete in-structions. By having yourchild fingerprinted at the

child safety kit booth, parentsare prepared should theirchild become missing. Thekit provides police with nec-

essary information for inves-tigating such cases. SidneyPolice Department will be onhand to do the fingerprinting.

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“Your Partner in Protection”

Christy Leskovar, authorand original Butte native,has an interesting familyhistory of scandal, war, mur-der, mayhem, and couragethat she is sharing with theworld in her book called,“Finding the Bad Inn: Dis-covering My Family’s Hid-den Past.” Leskovar is one ofthe featured authors whowill be in Sidney Friday andSaturday for Sunrise Festi-val of the Arts.

Leskovar studied the de-sign of nuclear power plantsand worked with BechtelCorporation for many years.In 1997, after returning for arelative’s funeral in Butte,Leskovar heard a peculiarstory from one of her rela-tives that she couldn’t be-lieve she hadn’t heard before.

“Aunt Mary happened tomention, very nonchalantly,about this fire on my great-grandparents’ ranch nearForsyth; and there was adead body found and a neigh-bor started a rumor that itwas my great-grandfatherArthur, and that my great-grandmother had murderedhim and she was arrested,”Leskovar said with an inter-

view with Prairie Public Ra-dio.

Leskovar was highly in-trigued and went back to herhome in Las Vegas to contin-ue working. The interest shehad in this piece of historyleft her always wanting toknow more. She wonderedhow the fire was started, howand why the body was leftthere, and what truly hap-pened to her great-grandfa-ther.

“I was literally sitting onmy back patio and thinkingof all these stories, and thisidea just popped into myhead; I was going to find outwhat happened on the ranch,and I was going to write abook about it,” Leskovarsaid.

In 2007 she took a leap offaith and a leave of absencefrom her career to pursuethe answers and documenther adventure. She gatheredher belongings and headedback to Montana. She startedher research at the historicalsociety in Helena and theRosebud County Courthousein Forsyth. “There was somuch story there; more thanI can ever imagine, that I

then decided to extend myleave of absence,” Leskovarsaid. “I realized that if I wasgoing to really do this and doit right, I didn’t want to justwrite a who done it. I wantedto put you in the time and inthe places so you could knowwhat it was like for thehomesteader back in 1905,”Leskovar said.

Leskovar spent the nextfew years traveling allaround the world from east-ern Montana to the land-scapes of Belgium, gatheringthe answers to her questions,and beginning a new careeras an investigator, anthropol-ogist, historian and writer.

“There'’s nothing like actu-ally seeing the places,”

Leskovarsaid. Herreaderssometimesask her ifshe has ac-tually beento the battle-fields, as itwas clearand evidentby the wayshe writesher books.

Leskovarwill leaveher storiesfor you toread in herbooks, butthe histori-cal nonfic-tion authorhas learnedfar more

than she could ever imagineand wishes to share it withher readers. “When I’m com-ing up on this visit (to east-ern Montana), I feel thatwhat I’ve learned could behelpful to other people. Ge-nealogy is fun, but I thinkit’s more fun to know the sto-ry. There are a lot of things Ilearned about how to get

those stories out of people,”Leskovar said on “Here itNow” interview on PrairiePublic Radio.

Leskovar will visit easternMontana this week. She willbe at the Glendive LibraryThursday at 6:30 p.m., Fridayafternoon at Books on Broad-way in Williston, N.D. Shewill then be in Sidney Fridayevening at 7 p.m. for an au-thors panel at Mondak Her-itage Center, and Saturdayshe will be signing books atthe Sunrise Festival of Artsfrom 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Leskovar looks forward toher visit in Sidney. “I met alot of really nice people inSidney, and I’m looking for-ward to being there again,”she said.

The author will offer ad-vice about family history, in-vestigating and usingsources. Her second book iscalled, “One Night in a BadInn.” Both books will beavailable for purchase at allevents.

For more information andto read excerpts from bothbooks, visitwww.christyleskovar.com.

Party trailer at the park

Author makes journey of discoverySunrise Festival of the ArtsSIDNEY HERALD WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2011 3B

www.sidneyherald.com

FILEFood galore is available at the Sunrise Festival of the Arts Saturday.

No need to go hungry or carry a snack toSunrise Festival of the Arts as you’ll haveplenty of goodies to choose from. Walkaround the back of the pavilion at VeteransMemorial Park where concessions will beset up.

Concession boothsChamber

Super nachos, nachos, BBQ beef sandwiches, Pepsiproducts, water

Shepherd of the Valley WomenFruit pies, ice cream, floats, coffee, Pepsi products

Women of the MooseCaramel rolls, cinnamon rolls, sloppy joes, lemonade,

water, coffeeChurch of the

Nazarene Youth GroupBrats, burgers, hot dogs, popcorn, bars/candy, water,

popR.S.V.P.

Old-fashioned hot dogs, foot-long hot dogs and cheesehot dogs, and water

Food, fun and festival Saturday at Veterans Park