Residents of the Abilene community gathered in downtown Abilene last Thursday for ArtWalk’s “Home, Sweet, Home.”

The Center of Contemporary Arts presents an art festival every second Thursday of the month on Cypress Street. The event brings together business owners, local artists and residents to promote awareness of issues as well as bring the community together.

One of the activities at the event tested knowledge of which sides of the brain are responsible for things such as colors, critical thinking and emotion. Brock New, ACU alumnus (’14), was one of the residents running this activity.

“A big part of why we do ArtWalk is to inform the community of researches,” New said. “Artwalk is a great way for families to come out and engage with the community.”

ArtWalk is also a way to inform the community of the events that are happening over the next month. Tonja Gray, a teacher at Reagan Elementary, had a table set up with handouts explaining some events that are coming up in Abilene.

“It is important for the community to be aware of the events that are happening in Abilene,” Gray said. “These events are made to help bring us together as a community, to share common interests and to get us out of our homes.”

The theme for ArtWalk last week was “Home, Sweet, Home.” The purpose was to celebrate Abilene and give people insight into what home means to others. People from all over Abilene had tables set up to share art that they made, as well as inform the community of some organizations around town. One of the original purposes of ArtWalk was to get people to visit art stores.

Last week’s ArtWalk saw a much smaller crowd than usual. Having the fair open on the same night might have contributed to this. Another possibility is that the theme may not have drawn as much interest as some themes in the past.

With the fair gone next month, it is likely attendance will be back up to usual numbers. The theme for next month is “Walking Dead.”