After cancellation in 2020, Frederick Festival of the Arts is back

Jun. 14—Howard Alan Events coordinates, on average, 90 art shows each year. But pandemic restrictions forced the Florida-based company to cancel more than 70 of them.

Despite this devastating loss of business, the company has established new partnerships and taken on news shows to support the artists that depend on such events for exposure.

One such partnership was with the Frederick Arts Council for the 27th annual Frederick Festival of the Arts, for which nearly 140 artists and craft-makers from all over the county descended on Carroll Creek Park for the weekend.

Despite not knowing whether the event would be possible until mid-May — when Gov. Larry Hogan, R, lifted capacity limits that applied to the area along the creek — this year's festival was the largest to date, Frederick Arts Council executive director Louise Kennelly said.

The two-day festival, rearranged from previous years to accommodate for social distancing, featured fine arts like paintings, sculptures and photographs positioned along Carroll Creek, and crafts stationed on Carroll St.

Among the featured work was art created solely from fiber, paintings made from acid and a photographer who aims his lens skyward to capture space.

Fine art booths passed a jury's stringent guidelines before reaching the event for display, said Howard Alan Events publicist Elizabeth Dashiell.

Artists traveled from as far as Colorado and California, from large cities like New York, Miami and Chicago, and from rising artisan capitals like Asheville, North Carolina.

The arts community that attends Howard Alan Events-run festivals is "like a family," said Hayley Zimmass, who runs a Crystal River, Florida-based studio.

Zimmass, who has known other artists at the festival for decades, said the pandemic fragmented the close-knit dynamic and brought the industry to a screeching halt.

For months, she had to reimagine ways to market her hand-crafted ceramics. Now that restrictions are loosening, she said, artists are stoked to hit the festival scene.

As are patrons, like Christine Alexander, a lifelong Frederick resident who, along with her mom, Bea Smith, has attended more than 10 of the city's annual arts festival.

"It feels a little more normal," Alexander said.

Interactions with patrons are what make artists like Ralph Rankin passionate about his work.

Rankin, who describes his Photoshop-enhanced pictures as "the good, the bad and the beautiful on vacation," cherishes the interactions he has with customers across the county, and he draws inspiration for his work from the places he visits.

The Orlando-based Rankin doesn't have an online presence, so patrons can only buy his work in person.

He was "dead in the water," with no income, for five months at the start of the pandemic.

Rankin began finding shows again in August 2020, relying on booking from Howard Alan Events, with which he has worked since 1989.

"Ever since COVID, I don't pass an art show up," Rankin said.

He's partaken in roughly 15 art shows in 2021 and plans to do another each weekend for much of the rest of the year.

Photographer Richard Hilgendorff said that the pandemic was "mentally horrible" and "financially devastating" for his business, Richard Gayle Photography.

Restrictions forced him to market his work through virtual art shows and online display galleries.

Since January, he and his wife, Gayle, have partaken in 10 art shows. The couple agree that, as pandemic restrictions have loosened as more Americans are vaccinated, the arts community has been eager to participate in and attend arts festivals.

Since September 2020, Howard Alan Events has coordinated roughly 20 events with organizations that have reached out for assistance, said Howard Alan Events show director Elaine Laurent.

Though, the pandemic is still robbing the company of art shows, including one that was scheduled for Frisco, Colorado in August.

Laurent is unsure how many shows Howard Alan Events will end up having in 2021, but she said the company already hopes to work with the Frederick Arts Council to coordinate the city's annual festival in years to come.