The Phoenix Village Art Center has finished its Phoenix for this year's Firebird Festival. The last clay bird making workshop is tonight but is likely booked up. But don't be upset! There is always next year.

According to Lisa Muller, who is in charge of instructing the clay bird making classes at the Phoenix Village Art Center on Bridge Street, the Phoenix acts as a fire pit for the birds, which are placed under it in a hole in the ground on shelves. Different items are wrapped around each of the clay birds, including banana peels, horse hair and seaweed, and the birds are then individually wrapped in foil, "like baked potatoes". Once the Phoenix burns itself out, the birds are dug out of the pit and turned over to their makers, or they can be donated by those who made them to the arts center which then sells them.

Traditionally workshop participants made two birds, one for themselves and one for the arts center to sell to raise funds, but they had so many left over from previous years to sell, they decided to have workshop participants only make one bird this year.

If you participated in a workshop this year, you can pick up your clay bird between 3 and 4 p.m. the next day. If it rains the night of the festival, and the bird isn't set on fire as planned, it will be lit up the next night, according to Muller.

Bird makers are also invited to donate their clay birds for display in the Firebird Art Show at the Artisan's Cafe on Bridge Street in February 2010.

The festival is set for Dec. 12 this year and will be proceeded by a parade of drums and handmade lanterns from the Colonial Theater.