Southampton Arts Festival Poster (Image from Southampton Arts Centre website)
A new arts festival is coming to Southampton this weekend.
The Southampton Arts Festival will be running from Aug. 1 to the 4 and feature about 100 artists from across the area in and around on High Street.
Southampton Arts Centre Board Chair Fred Kuntz says, “We already have many successful arts organizations in Southampton, it’s a strong arts community, and each organization was doing their own thing. A lot of the events were happening on the August long weekend. We got together as a group and said, ‘we already have an arts festival, if we add just a few more events, we can publicize it as our first ever annual arts festival and do it every year if it works,'” says Kuntz.
The festival will have many different events spread out through the weekend including an artisans and tastes market, Métis Traditional Crafts, pop-up summer crafting where participants can make their own souvenirs, and music.
“In the first ever festival, we have Indigenous participation, including Saugeen First Nation Independent Business Association,” says Kuntz. “They are going to be on the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre front lawn displaying their unique traditional crafts.”
He hopes to see a large crowd come and enjoy the new festival and to make it an annual event.
“This should be a draw that brings people to our community,” says Kuntz. “To see art lovers come and appreciate the art, and realize what a strong arts community we have here, to me, that would be the most exciting part.”
More details on the festival can be found on the Southampton Arts Centre website here.