Photos by Deb Gau Above: Hayden Bremmer watched as Mark Weberg used a small torch to bring out bubbling patterns in Hayden’s painting. The “paint pour” event was one of the free activities kids could take part in at Granite Falls’ Western Fest on Thursday

GRANITE FALLS — A steady stream of kids were headed toward the tables set up in Granite Falls’ Rice Park. But this wasn’t a picnic — you could tell by the rainbow of brightly-colored paint bottles set up on the main table.

“Are you ready to get messy?” Granite Falls Public Library staff asked one group of kids.

An art project organized as part of Western Fest on Thursday involved plenty of dripping, flowing paint. However, it didn’t seem to bother the kids who showed up.

“Look at my colors!” Liam Aurelius said. He had coated a small canvas with swirls of yellow, dark green and white.

The Granite Falls Library and Blue Barn Traveling Art Studio teamed up on Thursday to do acrylic paint pouring with area families. More than 60 people tried out the process, which lets paint flow over the surface of a canvas.

Paint pouring became popular on social media a few years ago, said Sarah Bednarek, of Blue Barn.

“It seems to be circling around again,” she said.

Bendarek said she’s done paint pouring at events like the Yellow Medicine County Fair in the past, and it drew a lot of interest.

“It’s quick, it’s fun, and you can’t mess it up,” she said.

Young artists were encouraged to fill plastic cups with layer after layer of different paint colors. Then they poured the paint onto small canvases. The flowing paint made unique swirling patterns filling up each canvas.

For a final touch, painters took their work to Mark Weberg, who moved a small blowtorch around a few inches above the paintings. The heat from the torch caused the paint layers to bubble and create small “cells” of different colors.

Some kids and parents said the finished paintings looked a little like galaxies in space. Noah Eggebraaten said his painting, with lots of oranges and reds, looked like “hot lava.”

Most importantly, the event was something for kids and families to enjoy, said Bednarek and children’s librarian Michelle Vavricka.

“This has been fun,” Bednarek said.