By Heather Lusk
Offering “a different kind of festival experience,” Palette owner Rebecca Cisernos created a Fall Festival drawing competition this year to inspire children to share their favorite part of the annual event through art.
The winner, Bella Pappas of Sheridan, used colored pencils to depict the bounce house obstacle course.
“That was the easiest, because it’s right there,” Bella said. “All the kids like the bounce houses.”
Contest participants were provided with all of the supplies to create their art and the freedom to create whatever they wanted.
“By working on site she had to experience the chaos of the kids corner from a reflective perspective,” Cisernos said. “I’m so proud of her, because she wasn’t given an example of what should be done or an expectation to meet.”
As she was drawing her picture, the obstacle course began to deflate, but Bella made a quick decision to mark the colors on her drawing so she would know their location.
Bella, a fifth grader at Sheridan Elementary School, attended this year’s Zionsville Lion’s Club Fall Festival in hopes of seeing the pet pavilion. She was awarded two free art lessons from Palette for her winning entry.
This isn’t Bella’s first drawing award. Last year, she was named Cartoonist of the Year by her school’s Cartoon Club, an after-school drawing program. Bella hopes to someday be a fashion designer.
“I’ve always liked fashion and I like dressing up,” she said.
Cisernos said she hopes to continue the contest, open to children ages 4 to 15, again next year.
