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ATTLEBORO -- Spring is in the air at the Attleboro Arts Museum, and no matter what the weather is outside, that's the atmosphere that will dominate the scene at the museum until its 2007 Flower Show and Art Exhibition closes at 4 p.m. Sunday.

Since the show opened Wednesday, landscape exhibitors, floral exhibitors and artists have been making sure of that with the nature-themed creations they have on display.

Making the most of the atmosphere, this year's theme "Celebrating Culture from the Ground Up" enhances the exhibits and paintings with a variety of activities, entertainment and food.

"This year, we have worked hard to bring in new energy and new themes for the show, and that is exemplified by the talent that we have and the theme that our landscape exhibitors are working with," said Museum Executive Director Mim Fawcett. 'Celebrating Culture From the Ground Up' talks about how the museum really does offer all kinds of cultural experiences - visual arts, performance, music, literature," she said.

The highlight should be the special Saturday evening Flower Show After Hours event, which begins at 8 p.m. Entitled "Rhythms in Nature - A Multi-Cultural Celebration," the Saturday evening event will feature the Joe Sallins Duo, which Fawcett predicts will be a very lively and unforgettable performance. "Joe's performance is interactive, in that he will set up all of his beautiful instruments, and participants from the audience will be part of this musical celebration. And, that's what so dynamic and so great," Fawcett explained. "He's an incredible performer and incredible talent, and then when everyone else gets up there, it's just an exciting, really fun time."

Sallins is a bassist, drummer, composer, teacher and performer, who performs solo as well as in duos and with bands. He has several recordings and has performed with well-known musicians, from Matt "Guitar" Murphy of the Blues Brothers to Lenny Baker of Sha Na Na. He also conducts clinics and workshops and offers programs at schools.

For his debut at the flower show, Sallins will be joined by 17-year-old drummer Matt Garstka of Southwick, who has performed with Sallins over the past years. With Sallins playing an East African djembe drum, as well as other instruments, the duo promises a high-energy musical performance featuring jazz and African and Latin American rhythms.

Attire for the Flower Show After Hours event can be formal or fanciful. "It's a sophisticated evening, and at the same time it's at the flower show, and it's just a really fun get-together," Fawcett explains. "Saturday night for us is celebrating culture from the ground up in a multi-cultural, as well as an artful fashion."

Other performers celebrating the theme and appearing for the first time at the museum are Picasso People, Peter Boie and Hello Stranger.

Picasso People is an original production which made its debut at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., in 1996, and has since toured the Midwest and Northeast and Southern United States.

The production is described as having "novel costuming and seamless choreography, enlivened by music that sets Picasso masterpieces into motion, with a sequence of musical vignettes that portray various aspects of the artist's life and work in a creative blend of mime, mask, puppetry, and dance."

Having offered the production to adults and students alike in hundreds of venues from the Boston Museum of Fine Art to New Hampshire's Currier Museum of Art, director Carlton Van Pyrz says he is proud to share his creative production with the audiences of Attleboro.

"When I get the opportunity to perform in a museum full of real master works of art, it is the most rewarding experience I can have as a performer," Carlton said.

Peter Boie, on the other hand, has never performed at a museum, but is just as eager to do so. Boie is a magician who began been performing magic 13 years ago at age 11, and has since won honors at the New England Magic Contest and the Columbus Magi-Fest in Ohio and was a finalist in the 2005 Society of American Magicians National Stage Competition.

"My performances combine magic choreographed to music, audience participation and comedy," Boie said. "I am very excited to be performing for the Attleboro Arts Museum. This is the first time I'll be performing in Attleboro, and it's also the first time I'll be performing in an art museum."

More familiar to the Attleboro area, is Hello Stranger, an a capella group of three men and three women, who perform jazz, ballads, popular and classical music, with their specialty being DooWop rock.

The group's repertoire consists of about 55 tunes, including some with piano accompaniment. Members include Linda Pyne, Kevin Myles and Jim Vergow all of Attleboro, Merry Holford of Mansfield, Jim Moore of Norton and Dody Adkins-Perry of Bourne.

In addition to these first-time flower show performers, past flower show favorites Andy Solberg, The Remnants and Buck and Winnie will return for their coffeehouse musical performances on Sunday.

From such musical entertainment to a wide variety of activities, Fawcett said the flower show is just another way to celebrate art.

"Celebrating culture from the ground up is our way of tying in the nature theme of the flower show and having all of our landscape exhibitors and garden clubs that are participating focus on how the arts and nature come together," Fawcett said.

The landscape exhibitors who will be doing just that are the Attleboro High School Landscape/Greenhouse Program, Briggs Nursery, Flowers by the Station, Nolan's Flowers and Gifts, Tranquil Water Gardens, Ed Liston Landscaping, the Corner Flower Shoppe and Heaven Scent Flowers.

Garden clubs that will be doing their part to celebrate the show's theme and participating in the show's Garden Club Competition are the Attleboro Garden Club, Sharon Garden Club and Sohoanno Garden Club of Wrentham.

Janette Sears can be reached by phone or fax at 508-222-2442 or by e-mail at janette@janettesears.com.