APPLETON (NBC26) — Every year the Art at the Park Festival draws thousands to downtown Appleton to collect pieces from artists from across the state and the country.
"They come from all over, all over Wisconsin, all over the U.S even," said Ashley Acker, the marketing manager for the Trout Museum of Art. "They sell all of their creations, everything from jewelry to paintings to woodworking.”
After being held virtually last year due to the pandemic, the festival is once again taking place at City Park July 24-25. Parking and admission are free and there is a 'Kids Creative Space' with free activities for children.
"We want you to spend money on the artists," Acker said. "We have a really great sponsor that makes it possible that there is no admission so spend your money on the artists. Help their careers.”
One of those artists is Mariana Russell, the owner of Amano print house, an artist-owned and operated screen printing shop. She is one of over 160 artists participating in Art at the Park this year.
"It's really cool to finally be able to show the things that we've been working on and potentially sell stuff since over the last year no one really got to show their work or display things," Russell said.
She says the publicity from the event is especially needed this year, after a year where the pandemic made it difficult to sell her work.
"If you’re just selling it online you’re really only selling it to the people that follow you," Russell said. "So this is great because you’re getting people from everywhere that you wouldn’t normally be able to show your artwork to. You have way more people that would potentially buy work.”
She says she’s glad to be back showing her work in the community after a year of isolation.
"It’s been a crazy long year obviously and it was a good time to be making," Russell said. "It was kind of isolating obviously so it was a really good time to channel that into making things and now it’s great to have the opportunity to display the work after spending so much time without other people.”
The festival will run until 8 p.m July 24th and from 9 a.m - 4 p.m July 25th. For more information, visit troutmuseum.org
