The first annual Judy Young Art in the Park Festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 6 at the Textile Heritage Park, located at 202 Smythe Street in Greenville. The event, sponsored by the Greenville Textile Heritage Society, is named for artist and writer Judy Young, of Pickens County.

The event will include arts & crafts (including vendors from Pickens County), children’s playground, face painting, music by Jeffrey Shelton (Americana folk singer/songwriter) from noon to 1 p.m., entertainment by Diane’s School of Dance from Berea from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., a food truck, lemonade truck, and Howard the Peanut Man. Admission and parking are free.

Don Harkins, Chair of the Greenville Textile Heritage Society, stated to The Pickens County Chronicle, “Judy A. Young, the Mill Village Artist, has been a vital part of our GTHS group from the inception and has added much to the success. Due to Judy’s generosity over the years and her contributions of many of her art pieces toward our fundraisers, we felt it appropriate to name this event in her honor. We are blessed to have both Judy and her husband, David, as vital members of our group.”

Judy Young stated, “I have been painting mill village folk art for over 30 years as my way of preserving our area’s rich textile history and my own family history. Both are very dear to my heart. I became a member of the Greenville Textile Heritage Society (GTHS) in 2006 when the organization was first formed, finding wonderful friends who were dedicated to the same preservation mission. I will always be grateful to them for giving me a venue to display and sell my work, and, somewhere along the way, I became ‘The Mill Village Artist.’”