OJAC to host Family Festival Feb. 5

By Melinda L. Lucas

If this week’s winter storm weather lets up in time, the staff at the Old Jail Art Center will welcome families into the Stasney Center on Saturday, Feb. 5 for a three-hour celebration of the Lunar New Year.

Starting at 12:00 noon, weather permitting, participants can enjoy traditional food, art, and games observing the Year of the Tiger, according to OJAC education director Erin Whitmore.

“We’ll be celebrating 2022 with fun crafts such as Tiger Lanterns, Sparkling Tuanbao, and Good-luck Goldfish,” said Whitmore. “Friends and family can practice their Chinese calligraphy, enjoy a round of Lunar New Year Bingo, and challenge one another in our Effigy Ring-Toss and ‘Scents of the Celebration’ games.”

As always, Whitmore added, there will be a “toddler corner” with interactive activities, and if participants can go outside, a dragon piñata “stocked and ready to fly.”

The quarterly family festivals are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Whitmore or the Old Jail’s newest staff member, family and public programs coordinator Kirsten Hahn, at 325-762-2936, or by email at khahn@theojac.org.

This is only the Old Jail’s second indoor family festival since COVID restrictions first affected museum activities two years ago.