Annual Main Street Festival to feature all things artsy
The 3rd Annual Whitewater Main St. Festival will be held on Saturday, Sept. 10 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Whitewater. A celebration of the arts, it will include arts and craft booths, sidewalk sales, street painting and live music. A two-block area of Main Street will be closed off for the event, organized by Downtown Whitewater, Inc., Studio 84, the Whitewater Arts Alliance and the Whitewater Area Chamber of Commerce.
New this year there will be an Italian dinner party, offering a buffet meal, including dessert, prepared by Bennie of Fanatico with patrons sitting at tables artistically decorated and positioned on Main Street. Tickets for the dinner are $15 each and can be purchased at wwmsfestival.blogspot.com. There are four time slots available for dinner, in one-hour increments beginning at noon, and only 50 tickets for each hour are being sold.
A public favorite of the festival is street painting, allowing people to help fill Main Street with art for only $5 for a square. The art lasts for several weeks and those wanting to take a piece of art home are invited to stop by Studio 84’s booth where, for $3, participants can make their own piece of art.
Among the many arts and crafts booth will be artist Abigail Engstrand, who will create charcoal sketches of people for $20. For each portrait, Engstrand will donate $8 to Studio 84’s programing in the arts for people with disabilities.
Urban Forestry will be providing creative activities for free at the festival involving birds, a game to play and a toy to make.
Live music featuring a wide range of musical diversity will feature Sam Hansen – a teenage keyboardist; Exposing SheraLee – a visual wonder and musical splendor with a clay wheel artist spinning to the music; Bill Hill – a vocalist/guitarist performing sweet jazz of the 30s to 50s; and Kat and the Hurricane – a Janesville radio band bringing grassroots, folksy music to the scene.
Several local galleries will have exhibits open for the event: the Whitewater Arts Alliance will have its Artrageous Birds on display; Studio 84 will be hosting Join the Herd: A Mooooving Exhibit; The Crossman Gallery (at UW-Whitewater), First Citizens State Bank and The Sweet Spot will all have art on display. Maps will be available showing locations of each gallery and all are within walking distance.
UW-Whitewater’s Student Art Association will offer face painting from $1 for a small image up to $5 for a full-face image.
Attending the Warhawks football game as they host Belhaven (Miss.) Saturday afternoon? Stop by the festival and get your game face painted on. There will be plenty of purple paint available.
Make a day of it: stop at the Farmer’s Market, located in the parking lot at True Value Hardware from 8 a.m. to noon; take a walking tour of the galleries; and then enjoy immersion into the arts at the Main Street Festival. Scattered throughout the festival will be plein air painters for attendees to watch as they create art. A variety of musicians will be on the streets filling the air with their talents.
“No matter how you immerse yourself in the arts with participating, looking, buying, dining or listening, it will be an enjoyable event for all,” Deborah Blackwell, director of Studio 84 said.
Main Street Festival sponsors include First Citizens State Bank, Krause & Associates Dentistry, and Leaf Filter. Details can be found at wwmsfestival.blogspot.com
