Trash turned to fashion on display for show next month

Trash bag trousers, blouses with bottle caps and cardboard caps.

If it’s destined for the landfill or recycling center a group of artists will be turning it into haute couture and modeling it on the runway for the Trash-2-Flash recycled fashion show on Friday, Nov. 9 at the O’Shaughnessy Center.

The Creative Arts Council, the nonprofit that runs the Creative Arts Center in Eureka, is bringing its recycled fashion show to Whitefish. Showtime is 7:30 p.m., and the box office opens and beverage sales begin at 6:30 p.m.

Alice Elrod, with the Creative Arts Council, said the show will include about a dozen outfits with about half of those folks who have participated in show in Eureka in the past. The arts center has been holding recycled fashion shows for eight years.

“It’s simple,” she said. “People get inspired and see what they can create. Some people have ideas for an outfit and others use something they’ve been collecting and turn it into an outfit and then the model performs down the runway.”

Tarps, film, wrappers, material scraps and plastic — if it’s trash, the designers find a way to make it flash for the show as models dance the unique and innovative outfits down the runway.

Elrod said the length of time an artist spends creating their outfit varies.

“Some will crank one out over night and some people will spend months on it,” she said. “Some people will come up with an idea and then ruminate on it for months.”

The audience will have the opportunity to purchase the outfits in a live auction following the show.

“They are art pieces,” Elrod said. “Some are wearable again, but very few are comfortable.”

Wine and HA) Brewery Beer will be available for purchase.

The show is a fundraiser and 100 percent of the proceeds go to support the Creative Art Center, which was formed 30 years ago by Eureka community members who wanted to expose their children to creative endeavors. It offers a number of art and fitness classes and workshops. The center serves all ages from child and youth programming to programs that are accessible to those with special needs, and programs that serve adults and seniors.

The center relies on support from the community through membership dues, class fees, and fundraising events, such as Trash-2-Flash. The goal is to keep room rental fees low to make the facility affordable and also offer some classes free to the public.

Sponsors of the show are Beyond Graphics, Boxed Water, Cafe Jax (Eureka), Eisinger Motors, First Interstate Bank, Glacier Bank, HA) Brewery, Heavens Peak Organics, Interbel Telephone Co-op, Lincoln Electric Co-op, Montana Market, Kevin and Mary Witbrod and Whitefish Credit Union.

Tickets for the Trash-2-Flash show are $15 and available in advance at www.creativeartseureka.org. For more information, call 406-297-3270.