Lakeshore Art Festival - WKTV Journal

By Carla Flanders
Lakeshore Art Festival Director

Time is running out to enter the award-winning Lakeshore Art Festival. The deadline for fine art and craft exhibitors to apply is midnight Feb. 4. The Lakeshore Art Festival is taking place Friday, July 3 and Saturday, July 4. Applications can be found online at l akeshoreartfestival.org.

Lakeshore Art Festival has a “blind jury process.” Every year, a group of industry professionals, artists and crafters review each entry, not knowing who the applicant is (i.e. blind jury). Jurors rely solely on the images and body of work provided by the applicants and score each applicant based on standards of quality, uniqueness and handcrafted appeal.

Lakeshore Art Festival continues to rank in the Top 200 Best by the Sunshine Artist Magazine and as one of the Best Art Fairs in America by ArtFairCalendar.com. The Lakeshore Art Festival has also been recognized by the Grand Haven Tribune as People’s Choice Award: #1 Art Festival in West Michigan.

Sponsorship opportunities are available. Businesses interested in promoting their brand while supporting this locally and nationally recognized festival can contact Carla Flanders at artfest@muskegon.org. See what other sponsors are saying.

Joe Grimm, Sales Director at Betten Baker Honda commented, “This is one of our favorite local events to support! Year-after-year we continue to see a return on our investment in the way that customer exposure translates to sales.”

Fine artist and crafter exhibitors that would like more information or want to apply for the 2020 Lakeshore Art Festival can visit lakeshoreartfestival.org.

The Lakeshore Art Festival is a Muskegon Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce Event

The Lakeshore Art Festival is always the first Friday and Saturday in July. The Lakeshore Art Festival features a unique blend of 350+ fine art and craft exhibitors, street performers, specialty food booths, interactive art stations, children’s activities and so much more in beautiful Downtown Muskegon, Michigan. For more information visit lakeshoreartfestival.org

The Lakeshore Art Festival in conjunction with the Muskegon Museum of Art will host a public unveiling event on Thursday, July 5, to celebrate nine new sculptures in downtown Muskegon. The sculptures, which incorporate real kayaks, will be installed at various locations along W. Western Avenue and Clay Street, between 7th Street and Jefferson Street.

“We are very excited to bring this fun and unique public art initiative to our community,” said Lakeshore Art Festival Director Carla Flanders. “We are not aware of any other community that has featured kayaks in this way, and we know our residents and summer visitors will be impressed by the creativity of these nine artists.” The sculptures will be on display through Labor Day weekend.

The unveiling event will begin at 4 p.m. at the Olthoff Stage at the corner of W. Western Avenue and Third Street. Attendees will receive a map showing where the kayak sculptures are located and will be invited to participate in a “kayak crawl” to tour the sculptures from 4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. The event will conclude with a reception at the Muskegon Museum of Art to honor kayak sculpture artists and Lakeshore Art Festival artists from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Light hors-d’oeuvres and a cash bar will be available.

The 2018 kayak sculpture project is one of the ways Muskegon is recognizing Sun Dolphin’s decision to locate their corporate headquarters in Muskegon. Sun Dolphin, the world’s largest kayak manufacturer, donated kayaks for the sculptures and is the project’s Signature Sponsor. “Muskegon has been a great business partner to Sun Dolphin over the years, and very supportive of our growing company,” commented Sun Dolphin CEO Chuck Smith. “We are pleased to express our continued support of the community through this unique kayak art event.”

The Lakeshore Art Festival is Friday, July 6, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., and Saturday, July 7, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., in downtown Muskegon.