Spotlight: Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts, June 5-7

Ottawa Ave by numstead
Ottawa Ave by numstead

2009 marks the 40th festival of the arts, making it one of the longest-running festivals in the state. Always held the first full weekend in June in downtown Grand Rapids, festival of the arts is a community celebration featuring arts, entertainment, food and fun activities for the entire family. All performances, exhibits and activities are free, thanks to generous donations by local organizations, companies and individuals.

During festival weekend, stop by any one of their indoor or outdoor stages and enjoy listening to music ranging from classical, rock, jazz, blues and more. Or be entertained by poetry, films, dancing, theatre and a variety of other activities.

Make sure you come hungry! Throughout festival grounds, you'll find dozens of food booths offering delicious ethnic specialties, desserts and more.

And if you like art, prepare to be visually impressed. Start by checking out the Regional Art Exhibition, a juried show featuring West Michigan's finest artists. Right next door, you'll discover their Youth Art Exhibit displaying artwork from students of all ages. If you'd like to buy art, you'll find plenty of choices in our two art sales tents on the Calder Plaza. Maybe you're interested in creating your own art? They'll provide you with the supplies – you bring the creativity!

Share this:
Share this page via Email Share this page via Stumble Upon Share this page via Digg this Share this page via Facebook Share this page via Twitter


Related Posts

This is program that compares articles on Absolute Michigan. Sometimes the results are a little odd.

One Comment

  1. Posted June 4, 2009 at 5:55 pm | Permalink

    Calling all photographers!

    If you're a photographer and planning on going to festival this weekend, here is an event and a few photo contests you may want to know about.

    First off, the Grand Rapids Flickr Group is scheduled to do a Photowalk at festival on Saturday, June 6th. This walk will be led by Terry Johnston (Powerbooktrance on Flickr) and starts at 1pm at MadCap Coffee at 98 Monroe Center. The walk will last an hour and a half, and photographers may join in for however long they’d like. Follow @GRFlickr on Twitter for updates.

    And while you’re snapping those pics at festival, think about entering one of these two photo contests:

    The festival of the arts photo contest is looking for shots that capture the spirit of festival and we’ll be judging in six categories:

    Arts
    Entertainment
    Food
    Activities
    Kid activities
    General

    Six winners – one from each category – will each receive a cash prize of $50! All entries must be in by June 10th and winners will be announced by June 12th. Visit the festival group on Flickr for more details on how to enter.

    The second photo contest is sponsored by Color Inc. and entries are due by June 25th. For complete rules and prizes, please view the announcement on Flickr.

    As always, when photographing people, be sure to ask first and if you plan on entering a shot in one of these contests, please get written permission from the subject.

    Enjoy festival, have fun snapping pics and good luck if you enter the contests!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

Post a Comment

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *
*
*