YOUR AD HERE »

Connections 4 Kids art show in Craig raises $10,000

Andy Bockelman
The artwork of Sandrock Elementary first-grader Kyler Arnold, pictured, will be featured on the cover of the upcoming calendar for nonprofit organization Connections 4 Kids. During its third annual Cherish the Little Things art show last week, the group raised more than $10,000.
Andy Bockelman

Cherish the Little Things art show finalists

The following Moffat County students will have their artworks on display in Connections 4 Kids’ upcoming calendar:

Eagle’s Nest Preschool

Amanda Franklin

Morgan Soper

East Elementary School

Isabella Anderson — kindergarten

Julissa Mendoza — fifth grade

Cristian Morales — third grade

Ridgeview Elementary School

Hunter Jones — second grade

Olivia Profumo — fourth grade

Isaac Vallem — third grade

Davina Widdison — first grade

Sandrock Elementary School

Kyler Arnold — first grade

Shanley Byrnes — kindergarten

Skyler Coleman — second grade

Zachary Crookston — kindergarten

Ashley Duran — fourth grade

Luis Galindo Ferrales — fourth grade

Emily Gonzales — fifth grade

Leah LePlatt — third grade

Osbaldo Quintana Valles — first grade

Sunset Elementary School

Ellina Jones — fifth grade

Wyatt Tucker — first grade

Kyler Arnold’s art received the most votes during the show and will be featured on the cover of the calendar.

Cherish the Little Things art show finalists

The following Moffat County students will have their artworks on display in Connections 4 Kids’ upcoming calendar:

Eagle’s Nest Preschool



Amanda Franklin

Morgan Soper



East Elementary School

Isabella Anderson — kindergarten

Julissa Mendoza — fifth grade

Cristian Morales — third grade

Ridgeview Elementary School

Hunter Jones — second grade

Olivia Profumo — fourth grade

Isaac Vallem — third grade

Davina Widdison — first grade

Sandrock Elementary School

Kyler Arnold — first grade

Shanley Byrnes — kindergarten

Skyler Coleman — second grade

Zachary Crookston — kindergarten

Ashley Duran — fourth grade

Luis Galindo Ferrales — fourth grade

Emily Gonzales — fifth grade

Leah LePlatt — third grade

Osbaldo Quintana Valles — first grade

Sunset Elementary School

Ellina Jones — fifth grade

Wyatt Tucker — first grade

Kyler Arnold’s art received the most votes during the show and will be featured on the cover of the calendar.

During the third annual Cherish the Little Things art show, every color of the rainbow was on display, and while some tints and hues were more prominently featured, one color that wasn’t lacking was green.

Connections 4 Kids broke its own record with a tally of $10,050 brought in during the three-day show that featured more than 300 pieces of art from students across Moffat County.

Coordinator Betsy Overton said the result was encouraging, as the amount of funds raised has gone up each year since the show’s inception.

“I don’t know how much further it’ll go up, but we had a lot of people through here, and I’m feeling really good about it,” she said.

Nearly 900 people dropped in to view students’ masterpieces — especially to partake in the hot cocoa bar offered during Saturday night’s Taste of Chocolate in the adjacent downtown area — including many of the artists themselves, who loved the chance to see their entries viewed by the public.

“They were here almost every day, some of them,” she said.

A selection of 20 pieces was picked by Connections 4 Kids council members to be used in the organization’s upcoming promotional calendar, with the artists honored in a banquet last week.

During the show, patrons could vote by monetary donation for which artwork would be used for the calendar’s cover. The student with the most votes was Sandrock Elementary School first-grader Kyler Arnold, whose insect-themed picture alone received $193.50 in donations.

The young artist created a nature scene of a bright green dragonfly hovering over a group of plants, including cacti seen during a family trip to Arizona.

Although Arnold enjoys using paints in his works, this particular image was made entirely with colored pencils.

“I like drawing the best,” he said.

Contact Andy Bockelman at 970-875-1793 or abockelman@CraigDailyPress.com.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Craig and Moffat County make the Craig Press’ work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.