Green Bay's newest festival, ArtFest, hits the streets of downtown this weekend. Here's what it's all about.
GREEN BAY - Organizers of the new ArtFest Green Bay don’t want you to just browse the art or just listen to the salsa music — although both are highly encouraged — they also hope you’ll feel inspired to help create a sprawling piece of public art or learn a few salsa steps.
The three-day event from Downtown Green Bay Inc. makes its debut Friday through Sunday on the streets of downtown, not as a replacement to Mosaic Arts Inc.'s Artstreet, which moved to Ashwaubomay Park in Ashwaubenon last August after 40 years downtown, but as a fresh offering with its own vision of bringing art to the heart of the city.
“The community told us what this event was going to be, and the community continues to tell us what this event is going to be,” said Jeff Tilkens, events manager for Downtown Green Bay. “From the get-go, from Day One, this was really a community-inspired project, when we were told loudly that this event needed to happen and art needed to be downtown.”
Some of the loudest voices came from downtown businesses eager to welcome weekend festivalgoers to the streets.
“Some of them are absolutely thrilled. This is like Black Friday for them,” Tilkens said.
An art fair showcasing the work of local, regional and national artists is one of the centerpieces of the event along with an area devoted to interactive arts for all ages so that people can’t just see but also do.
“We kind of wanted to take the idea and concept of an art festival and reinvent it and give people who are going more experiences rather than just walking and looking at vendors and artists, so we have a lot of different activities going on through the event grounds for the three days,” said Samantha Mirkes, marketing manager for Downtown Green Bay.
Partnerships with The Art Garage, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and sponsorships from businesses were key to bringing that interactive element to the inaugural event, Tilkens said.
“We want people to walk away understanding art is for everybody. Everyone can be an artist. If you can’t sing, maybe you can draw. If you can’t draw, maybe you can cook or paint. At bare minimum, you can just come down and enjoy art,” he said. “We just want everyone to walk away with some really fun memories and hopefully a piece of art they either made or bought.”
When, where and how much is ArtFest?
ArtFest Green Bay runs 3 to 10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday in downtown’s Adams Street parking lot and along Adams, Jefferson and Cherry streets. Admission is free.
How many artists will be there?
About 75 artists from nine states will exhibit and sell their works. For a first-time event, Tilkens said they’re thrilled with that number. It offers visitors variety, including paintings, jewelry, ceramics, glass, mixed media and fiber, while still leaving enough space for some of the more interactive arts opportunities that will make the event unique.
Watch artists in action, vote in Art Wars or create in Crafty Classroom
The heart of the event is the Discovery Zone, an area where people can learn about and try art. It has four major components.
Masters’ Studio: Beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, a different artist each hour will demonstrate their work, including woodburning, painting, fused glass and Ukrainian eggs. Once their time onstage is finished, they’ll continue working in that area talking with visitors.
Crafty Classroom: Some of the same artists who do demonstrations will then teach two-hour classes onsite. Festivalgoers can just walk up or reserve a spot day of. Cost ranges from $15 to $75, depending on the class.
Little Picasso’s Corner: Kids can color, paint and create with wooden sticks or yarn. They can also make a clay magnet with a take-home kit ($3). The Kroc Community Center will offer mini classes on beach painting (10:30-11:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday; $10) and creating a pirate treasure map (3:30-4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; $5).
Art Wars: The Tarlton Theatre series takes to the streets with artists going brush to brush in a live painting competition. Twelve artists, in three rounds of four each, will have 30 minutes to create art from a theme revealed to them on the spot. Crowd voting will help determine who advances to the final round. Rounds begin on the hour at 1 p.m. Sunday. Completed pieces will be up for bids.
No experience necessary: Help create Green Bay's first clay mural
Festivalgoers are invited to join local artists Keith Carter and Don Krumpos create a 30-foot-long clay mural that will become a permanent piece of public art. No special skills or tools are needed. Just show up from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday to help put texture into individual sections of the wet clay or return during the same hours Sunday, after it has been kilned, to help with the colorful glazing process.
The mural, which will feature a Fox River and nature theme, will be installed later this year near the parking ramp at 238 Walnut St.
“It’s not just take part in a project that you don’t see again. It’s going to be permanently installed so people are going to be able to see the project they took part in every time they go down Walnut Street,” Tilkens said.
The interactive community project was made possible by a $6,000 grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board’s Creative Community grant program and the sponsorship of Capital Credit Union and the Artisan and Business Center of NWTC.
Three music and entertainment stages will get you up and grooving
Headliners on the Main Stage in the Adams Street lot are:
Johnny Wad, 7:30-10 p.m. Friday
Salsa Manzana, 8-10 p.m. Saturday
Salute to Sinatra Big Band, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Sunday
The stage will have continuous entertainment throughout the festival, including the Oneida Nation Smoke Dancers, Green Bay artist Amelia Ford, who won a Wisconsin Area Music Industry Award in May for album of the year for "Wide Wide Open," and popular local groups The Chocolateers and Pegasis. The Weidner’s nifty golf cart that turns into a mobile stage (on Cherry Street) and the Jefferson Street Stage (near City Hall) will showcase a diverse slate of music, include Latin, jazz, blues, accordion, harp and more.
Organizers wanted the event’s “experiential art” vibe to be evident in the entertainment lineup, Mirkes said, so you’ll find salsa and Hmong line dance classes among the stage offerings. People who learn to salsa by day will be invited onstage by Salsa Manzana at night to dance.
“People will definitely be able to get up and move during some of the sets we have listed instead of just sitting and watching,” Mirkes said.
Hungry or thirsty? There's food trucks, culinary demos, beer and wine
The food court will be in the Adams Street lot, where about a dozen booths and food trucks will be serving everything from seafood to carnival fare. Downtown Green Bay Inc.’s fundraising booth, the Downtown Diner, will have burgers, brats, chips, beer, wine and soda.
Time your visit right and you might also be able to sample what local chefs whip up during their culinary demonstrations on Saturday afternoon. Chefs Jyll Everman and Andy Mueller will co-host, with a different chef on stage each hour. The first 40 people at each demo will get to taste what they prepare.
Matt Sherburne of Amphora Wine Bar and Delilah's, 1 p.m.
Kendra Krezwina of Black & Tan Grille, 2 p.m.
Tyler Kamin of Ten O' One Club, 3 p.m.
Fabian Martinez of Cedar & Sage Grill House, 4 p.m.
The ArtFest Color Run/Walk is sold out, but spectators are welcome
Registration is full, but that doesn’t mean you can’t watch participants as they get showered with different colored powders along the 2½-mile route. They’ll begin at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in front of Hotel Northland and travel down CityDeck to the Fox River Trail to Mason Street, where they’ll head back to go across the Bart Starr Memorial Bridge to the west side and then across the Ray Nitschke Memorial Bridge to finish at Hotel Northland as “walking art pieces.” One of the spots where they’ll be splashed with color is in the food court of the Saturday Farmers Market.
Here are your parking options; expect a busy Saturday morning
“The biggest thing is going to be the Pine Street parking ramp and the Cherry Street parking ramp. When in doubt, just jump into those ramps,” Tilkens said.
Street parking is free after 6 p.m. on Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday. Handicapped parking will be available in the City Hall lot.
With the Saturday Farmers Market, the Color Run/Walk and ArtFest all happening on Saturday morning in close proximity, expect downtown streets to be busy.
Looking for more info about ArtFest or want to volunteer?
Go to downtowngreenbay.com/artfest for entertainment, class and demo schedules, a list of exhibiting artists and a map of the grounds. You'll also find a tab for signing up to volunteer. There are still open shifts for food and beverage servers, cashiers and other duties.
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Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: First-time ArtFest Green Bay looks to bring 3 days of fun downtown
