|
Press Releases
Bella Vista Festival Has A
Few Changes This Year.
Festival is quickly
approaching, and there are a few changes this year.
Although most of the 39th Annual Bella Vista Festival changes might not be
noticed by every visitor, there will be a few things different this year.
The first thing our visitors will notice is a new welcoming gateway.
We want our visitors to know that we really do appreciate them coming to
our site, and we hope they have a great time. There will be a large
overhead banner, and several smaller informational signs at the new
gateway.
This is where another change will most likely be noticed: the Bella Vista
Festival is not allowing pets on the site this year. Signs will be posted
near the gateway explaining that only trained companion dogs will be
allowed on site. Several unfortunate “accidents” happened last year, and
unfortunately, these made it necessary to keep pets out of the festival
site in order to protect merchandise and shoes.
A new attraction in the parking area may also be seen: visitor RV parking.
The Festival is hosting visitors with RVs for overnight accommodations for
a fee of $5 per night, Tuesday through Saturday nights. The area is “dry
camping”, meaning there is no water or electrical hook-ups or dump sites,
but it does give RVers an option to driving all over the country in their
large vehicles. They can park at Bella Vista Festival, and go hither and
yon from our area. Reservations are preferred, but drive ins are welcomed.
Another new item at the Festival will be our Festival Fine Art Tee Shirts.
A contest was held in the summer to select the design for the front of the
tees. The contest was co-sponsored by the Bentonville Visitors and
Convention Bureau. A design was sought to tie in with the fine arts, since
the Festival is sponsored by The Village Art Club. A wonderful take-off of
the Georges Seurat painting, “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grande
Jette,” now has a Bella Vista twist to it. The winning entry was submitted
by Joann Lacey of Cassville, Missouri. Festival volunteers will be wearing
one color of the shirts, and visitors may purchase a shirt in one of two
other colors that will be made right there at the Festival. A booth will
be near the front of the festival with the
shirts and a few tote bags with the design on them. Another Fine Arts Tee
Shirt contest is planned for next year.
Missing from Festival this year will be the Youth ArtFest that was held
for the past four years. With so many organizations holding art contest
for students, it was felt that our efforts were duplicating others, and
the students were stretched too thin to enter all of the shows.
However, there is still a great deal going on at the Festival.
Booths are full, and a waiting list has been started. There are many new
exhibitors with a wide variety of handmade arts and crafts. And many
returning exhibitors with their original goods will still be at the
Festival. There are currently 18 states represented in the Exhibitors
field, and arts and crafts ranging from hand-made puppets to hand-made
fudge is available.
Back are long-standing favorites in the See ‘n’ Sample tent.
Exhibitors in this tent offer tiny tastes of their prepackaged foods to
visitors so that visitors can know what to expect from the packages they
purchase.
The Food Court area will feature a wide range of food items, available for
breakfast, lunch and supper. Most of the food vendors are returning from
last year. One new vendor this year features a flavored coffees and fruit
smoothies booth. Visitors may eat at the Festival, or take something home
for a work-free evening meal. (Great if one has been shopping all day!)
Music at the Sound Stage will feature live performers and some recorded
music for most of the day. Lunch under the Dining Tent, listening to a
really good musical group, is a noontime treat and a chance to rest the
feet.
Back for the third year is the Fine Arts Market Tent. Here, invited
artists in the fields of painting, sculpture, pottery and jewelry will
talk with visitors about their works and techniques. Visitors can select a
piece of work and get to know personally the artist that created the
original piece. Some of the artisans are local; some are from out of the
area. But all have been selected to bring a variety of fine art for
Festival-goers to see and purchase.
All the exhibitors are either in individual tents on the grounds, or
inside the huge white tents with colorful pennants fluttering from the
topmost posts. Booths feature hand-made clothing, fine and rustic
furniture, several varieties of pottery, several styles of jewelry,
hand-made soaps and hand creams, swinging chairs for the outdoors,
stepping stones for the garden, decorative pieces to go in the garden, - a
plethora of great items for home décor or really marvelous gifts.
Anyone purchasing large items, or carrying too many items for comfort, may
check the items at the Large Item Holding tent, and then pick them up in
their vehicle as they leave. No vehicles except Festival personnel are
allowed in the Festival site. But the large Items tent is just at the
Exhibitors entrance, and shoppers may come in and pick up their purchases.
Visitors to the Bella Vista Festival have come to expect the wide variety
of other products that are all hand made or creatively adorned. Festival
personnel have carefully juried these products for admission. Pride is
taken in having everything made by the person in the booth, with nothing
that could be purchased at the Big Box locations allowed. No item may be
offered for sale that has been imported from a foreign supplier. The Bella
Vista Festival is one of the few remaining festivals in the United States
that does not allow buy-resale goods. Only arts and crafts made by the
exhibitor is here.
As always, parking is free, and there will be the big green trams to take
visitors to and from the parking area. The Bella Vista Arts & Crafts
Festival will take place October 18-20 at the same location it has been at
for the past 10 years. There are currently no plans to change the
location, since Cooper Communities, Inc generously donates it to the
Festival. The Festival is sponsored by The Village Art Club, Inc, (VAC)
and is produced and run by a volunteer staff. There are several local
civic and other groups who help put the Festival on, and they receive
honoraria for their work. It would be difficult to put such a large event
together without their cooperation.
This is the 39th Annual Festival, and the staff is already planning
special activities for the 40th year in 2008.
The Festival is the only fund-raising event the Village Art Club sponsors.
Profits go toward the Club’s scholarships, as well as support for the two
galleries-Wishing Spring and Gallery West- and classes and workshops in
The Studio. The VAC membership is open to anyone interested in the visual
arts. Meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month in The Studio,
located behind Wishing Spring Gallery on County Road 40 near Highway 71
North.
For more information about the Festival, contact DeLane Cox,
Director, at 479 / 855-2064.
|
