Annual festival held in Brandon

The Diversified Christian Noise group, also known as DCN, hosted their fourth annual Coffee and Art Festival in Brandon, on Saturday, Oct. 5. 

They had a variety of things for the public to see and do such as hearing some live music, gazing upon local art and trying out different brews of coffee. Junior Gracemary Allen volunteered at the event. 

I go to a lot of conventions, so it was really nice to see on a smaller scale,” Allen said. The local artists were all so unique.”  

Allen, along with junior Leila Wotruba, helped facilitate the event together and assisted wherever needed.  

“I really liked volunteering at the Noise Box,” Allen said. “It’s pretty chill, and it’s also really interesting to see the amount of people that come in just to people watch. 

The event itself is widespread, including a large art gallery displaying local Brandon artists. One young artist, known as MacyEatsPaint, ran the gallery exclusively. This year, the main artist displayed was Nneka Jones, who just started out in the art realm. The festival is only the fourth gallery her art has ever been displayed in.  

I really liked the political messaging of the artist,” Wotruba said. “I think her shock value and medium helped make a point of how women of color are treated.”   

In another area of the festival, coffee panels served samples of coffee flavors. Many small businesses were there, but even well-known local chains such as Buddy Brew attended. 

“I love seeing everyone present what they love,” member of DCN Jessica Schultz said. “I love seeing all the artists work. I love seeing the vendors work. It’s great to see everyone bringing what they’re really good at and showing it to everyone.”  

The first event back in 2014 was created by the leader of DCN, Tommy, and his friend Garrett Sharp. After the first event was such a success, DCN held the event again the same year, before deciding to only do the event annually. The group continued to use the church to host a myriad of other festivals and concerts from then on.  

“Once everyone came together and the right people started getting into the group, we started really nailing down this venue for music,” Schultz said 

As for Allen and Wotruba, they plan on helping again next year, which will be held around October 2020. 

“The festival really showed me that theres different kinds of art in the world that can be expressed in many different ways, whether it is through a painting or a glorious cup of coffee, Wotruba said.