APPLETON – Appleton’s annual Art at the Park returns Saturday for arts, crafts, music, food vendors and family-friendly entertainment.
This year marks the 62nd year of Art at the Park. According to the Trout Art Museum website, the event began in 1960 with just 15 local artists and about 200 attendees. That same year, the Appleton Guild of Arts, which later became the Trout Museum of Art, was founded. Now, at the event organized by the Trout Museum, nearly 170 artists share their works and thousands of guests participate.
Art at the Park moved from a one-day festival to a two-day festival in 2021. This year’s festival takes place from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at City Park, located at 500 E. Franklin St. Entrance and parking are free.
This year’s Art at the Park is also a bittersweet celebration: it’s the first festival since the death of one of its founders, Phil Sealy.
A longtime Appleton resident, Sealy returned to sell her watercolors at Art at the Park for years. Sealy was a founding member of the Appleton Artists Guild in 1960 and served on the board of the Trout Museum of Art until the pandemic hit, said Christina Turner, the museum’s executive director. In 2018, Sealy was honored with the first-ever Fox Cities Arts and Culture Award. He died in December 2021.
“His wife died within a week of him. They were both 90 years old. And he was still painting until the day he died,” Turner said.
This year, commemorating the founder of Art at the Park, the booth will be at the corner of Drew and Franklin streets, the same place Sealy always has his booth. Turner said attendees will be able to chat with the Sealy family and purchase some of Sealy’s paintings, with proceeds going to the Sealy Family Trust, which will be donated to various organizations.
At this year’s festival, 166 professional artists will set up tents selling different types of artwork from paintings to jewelry and ceramics to woodworking and more. Artists apply to the booth and are accepted by a panel of three judges who accept artists based on quality and a balance of different mediums, Turner said. Additionally, the Young Artists Market will feature booths with approximately 16 pieces of art by artists ages 18 and under.
In addition to artist booths, Art at the Park also features live music, food vendors, and activities for children. Each day of the festival begins with a magic show at 9:30 a.m., Turner said, and the Kids Creative Space invites children to participate in crafts such as tie-dyeing, pot decorating and seed planting, as well as face painting, henna tattoos and caricatures. , all near the Linnaparki playground. The Trout Museum of Art is partnering with Mile of Music for the festival, bringing local Wisconsin musicians to the stage to give a small taste of what’s to come at the Mile of Music in a few weeks. Food trucks, tents and beer vendors sell food and drinks to festival attendees.
For artists, Art at the Park is more than just an opportunity to sell their work at the market; there is also a chance to win prizes and win prize money.
Each year, Art at the Park invites a single judge, usually from out of town, to select seven award winners who receive cash prizes totaling $5,000: The Best in Show award gives one artist $2,000 and covers the next year’s booth fee. Best 2D Artist and Best 3D Artist will each receive $1,000 plus booth fees for next year’s festival, and the four Merit Awards will award artists $250 each. This year’s judge is David Najib Kasir, a Milwaukee-based oil painter. The winners will be announced at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday.
Appleton Downtown, Inc. names Art at the Park the third largest event in the Fox Cities behind Mile of Music and Octoberfest.
But Art at the Park offers a more family-friendly experience than Appleton’s other two big events, which focus on bars and music, Turner said.
“I love Octoberfest and I love the Mile of Music, but I would say Art at the Park is great because it focuses on looking at art and being in the park with your family,” Turner said.
While Art at the Park is a free event, Turner said attendees who choose to donate to the Trout Museum of Art at the festival or online will match the donation with the John and Julie Schmidt Family Fund.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
