What began as a small community festival has blossomed over the six decades since its founding into one of the Northwest’s major arts events.
The Edmonds Arts Festival, a free three-day event, kicks off Friday, and is expected to draw some 50,000 people.
Visitors will be able to stroll among more than 240 artists’ booths, view juried student and adult artwork at the Frances Anderson Center, and listen to a variety of music styles at the nearby amphitheater.
Artists will be demonstrating drawing, printmaking, painting, ceramics and jewelry making as part of Artists in Action on the plaza.
More than 400 volunteers help with setup, organization and directing pedestrian traffic during the three-day festival.
“Every one of us when it starts and finishes says: ‘Wow we did it,’ ” said Diane Cutts, Edmonds Arts Festival Association president.
The group is proud of the festival’s no-entry-fee tradition. “We feel very strongly about offering it to the community without having to pay for it,” she said.
“You’re learning, seeing and experiencing, and it doesn’t cost you a thing,” Cutts said. “I think it’s one of the best deals going.”
Attendees can sit and listen to music all day, see the works of artists — including the winners of this year’s festival arts contest — and walk the grounds. Kids can enjoy the newly completed Frances Anderson Center playground.
This year’s festival poster is “At the Beach,” by Renton artist Ned Mueller. “He did his research and painted the beach scene at an Edmonds beach,” said Patti Sullivan, the festival’s marketing director. “He has such a nice nostalgia about his art.”
As part of being selected as the poster artist, the festival set up a private galley for Mueller just inside the Anderson Center to show off his work and provide an opportunity for people to meet him.
“He’s a long-standing supporter of the Edmonds Arts Festival,” Sullivan said.
Of course, no festival would really be a festival without food. Even the festival’s food is juried, Cutts said.
The 22 food booths offer a variety of cuisines, including Hawaiian, Caribbean, Cajun, Greek, German, Tex-Mex, Russian, Northwestern and that of Philadelphia, as well as traditional fair foods like burgers and corn on the cob.
For quick snacks or desserts, there will be several choices of ice cream, berry shortcakes and popcorn.
Save yourself the drill of hunting for a parking spot by taking the shuttles near the Port of Edmonds on the waterfront and the former Woodway High School on 100th Ave. W. The shuttles run about every 20 minutes.
Proceeds from the event help fund a number of yearlong activities by the nonprofit Edmonds Arts Festival Foundation, including up to $30,000 in scholarships for students majoring in visual arts, grants for art-related curriculum and school materials, and community art projects around town, Cutts said.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
If you go
Edmonds Arts Festival is June 15-17 in and near the Frances Anderson Center, 700 Main St., Edmonds. It runs 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The event is free. No pets are allowed.
Visitors are encouraged to catch one of two shuttle buses to the festival. One is near the Port of Edmonds at 336 Admiral Way, and the other at the former Woodway High School at 23200 100th Ave. W. The shuttle runs every 20 minutes.
In addition to the visual arts, the festival includes three days of music — including blues, folk and big-band jazz performances — at an outdoor amphitheater. See the full schedule online.
More at www.edmondsartsfestival.com.
Art winners
The Edmonds Arts Festival also holds an art contest each year. Here are the first-place winners by category of the juried art awards. See the award-winning art on the festival website.
Steve Kennedy, “Waiting For The Catch, 1958 (View 1),” print
Lisa Lady, “Neighbors,” miniatures and small paintings
Barbara Wyatt, “Pull Toy,” three dimensional
Rhonda Dicksion, “Wanderlust,” drawing
Wayne Rutledge, “Jim,” digital photography
Lisa Marquart, “Just Beyond the Horizon,” painting
Timothy Barney, “Ray’s Suitcase Interior #1,” traditional photography
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