The Summer Arts Festival came home this weekend. After two years at the fairgrounds — a move organizers made during the Clinton Square renovation — the juried show returned downtown Friday with 90 artists, its largest field ever, and a new night market that kept the square busy well past dark.
Festival director Amara Osei said downtown foot traffic changed the event’s whole character. “At the fairgrounds people drove in, walked the rows and left,” she said. “Here, half our visitors didn’t know we existed until they walked through us on the way to dinner.”
What’s new this year
- A night market on Friday and Saturday, running until 11 p.m. with 20 additional vendors
- Live printmaking and glass-blowing demonstrations on the hour
- A youth wing showing work from four city high schools
- Free bike valet at the Erie Boulevard entrance
Best in Show went to fiber artist Renata Kim for a wall-sized tapestry mapping the city’s creeks, most of which now run underground in culverts. The piece was purchased Saturday by the county arts council for its permanent collection.
Organizers estimate weekend attendance at 38,000, ahead of the festival’s pre-renovation record. Next year’s dates are already set for the first weekend of June.
