|
About the Festival
The Bella Vista Arts & Crafts Festival is
sponsored by the non-profit Village Art Club, Inc., and is the
fund-raising arm of that organization. This will be the 39th
annual Festival. All of the work of putting the Festival together
and running it is done by volunteers. There are some local church
and civic groups who work with us during Festival and who get an
honorarium for their work.
The Festival is held on the third week-end in October each year,
along with several other large and small arts and crafts shows in
the area. Approximately 140,000 people (Arkansas tourism figures)
come into the area to attend the events. This makes getting hotel
rooms at the last minute very difficult.
Visitors to our Festival enjoy the free parking and free admission.
We even provide tractor-pulled “trams", or wagons, to assist people
in getting to and from the Festival site.
The Bella Vista Festival hosts approximately 30,000 visitors each
year to our site, which has around 300 exhibitors and 12 food
vendors for the three-day event. Festival hours are from 8 a.m. to
6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Exhibitor booths are located inside our large tents (90’x200’) or in
exhibitors’ individual tents outside our tents, all located on
spacious, beautiful grounds. Weather is somewhat unpredictable, but
with so much of our Festival under some kind of cover, we go right
on.
We strive to keep the wide range of fine arts and fine crafts in our
Festival top quality. Our exhibitors must go through a stringent
jury process to be accepted. The Festival requires that everything
in a booth be made or decorated by the person selling. No
buy-re-sale goods are allowed.
There is entertainment in the Sound Stage area for visitors who just
want to sit awhile, or who are enjoying a meal from our excellent
food vendors. Seating is at picnic tables or on bales of straw in
front of the stage.
Our See ‘n’ Sample tent contains vendors who give samples of their
pre-packaged foods to taste before buying.
Our Children’s Tent is a keeping area for youngsters where they make
small art projects and craft items while the rest of the family is
shopping. There is no charge, but a donation is suggested. Last
year the donations went to the Benton County Women’s Shelter to
purchase art supplies for their children’s program.
Sharing the tent with the children is a Large Package Holding area
for purchases that cannot be carried around the Festival, or are too
heavy for carrying. These items may be picked up in a vehicle when
the purchaser is ready to leave.
We have a Fine Arts Market tent where selected artisans are asked to
display their artwork, and to demonstrate, if possible. Visitors
may talk with the artists and get to know them and their medium. A
few new artists are asked to join a few artists selected from the
previous year in displaying and selling in this tent. Exhibitors
are chosen by the staff to be a good mix of people and media.
Our food vendors are selected for the variety of foods they serve.
Visitors may eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the Festival, or
take home some of the excellent foods for a quick supper.
We invite you to come and see our Festival and all the wonderful
exhibitors and food vendors who are here. We are sure you will
enjoy the visit!
|
