The 10th annual Francestown Arts Fest will take place Saturday, June 14, from noon to 4 p.m. in the Francestown Town Hall. The festival will showcase local artists, makers and creators.
Artists who wish to participate in the Francestown Arts Fest should come to the Meetinghouse by 11 a.m. on Saturday to set up. Artists do not need to register ahead of time to participate.
“All people have to do is show up, and every type of art and craft is welcome. Whatever you make, whatever you create —come join us and show us your stuff,” said Marcy Tripp Graham, who founded the Arts Festival 10 years ago and has been running it ever since. “We’ve had every type of art, from ceramics and painting to glass and woodworking, jewelry, toys. We’ve had music, we’ve had poetry, we’ve had people stand up and read their stories.”
Tripp said the festival has plenty of space for more artists.
“We have plenty of room-we can fill the whole second floor if we need to,” Tripp said. “The only requirement is that if people are selling their work, they need to stay at their table or have someone at the table for the whole event.”
All ages are encouraged to bring their creations.
“Years ago, we had a little boy who showed up with his drawings. He was eight years old, and I told him he should talk to people about his art,” Tripp said. “So he went out to the front of the Meetinghouse and started talking to people and asking them to come in and look at his drawings! That is the amazing type of thing that can happen when it is wide open, when you don’t have to register ahead of time, and you can just show up. Last year we had a painter who was in her 90s, and she was just amazing.”
Artists returning to the festival include glass artist Susanna Miles, painter Paula Kay Kerouac, textile artist Annie Beard, and woodworker Jim Barker.
Tripp, a painter and former publisher, founded the festival at the suggestion of her son, Ben Tripp, a professional artist, author, and designer who has worked for Disney designing theme parks.
“He said, ‘Mom, you should do some kind of an arts festival.’ So I did, and he designed our wonderful first poster,” Tripp said. “This year’s poster has some of the art from that first poster: the bear looking over the shoulder of the painter, and the painter doesn’t know he’s there.”
This year’s festival will feature performances by local musicians.
“We are very excited to announce that we will have music returning this year,” Tripp said. “We’re setting up a listening room on the stage with a speaker and a sound system for people to come hear musicians play. We have several musicians coming, and we would love to get a few more. We will see who shows up on Saturday!”
Tripp, who is descended from the Bixbys, one of the founding families of Francestown, has organized other events in her beloved hometown.
“Before COVID, we started the Sundays at 4 events at the Old Meetinghouse. We had concerts, we had art walks, we had history walks. The turnout was wonderful, and people were so supportive,” Tripp Graham said. “There are just so many wonderful things happening in Francestown.”
For more information about the Francestown Arts Fest go to https://www.facebook.com/FrancestownArtsFest.